Kāinga Ora principal planner Joshua Neville said the proposed scheduling of the house at 11 Wilkinson St, Liberton, would constrain the ability of Kāinga Ora to "maintain or efficiently use and develop" the property in line with its statutory responsibilities.
The house, first occupied in 1938, is one of 146 heritage buildings in the city proposed to be added to the Dunedin City Council’s heritage register.
Many owners of the buildings have opposed their addition to the register; a hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday.
Mr Neville said Kāinga Ora supported "appropriate heritage protection", including for state housing, but believed this proposed scheduling did not reflect "best practice or proportionality".
The agency managed a public housing portfolio of 1490 homes in the Dunedin area.
At the time of writing his submission, there were another 357 households on the waitlist in the city.
"To address this need, and the priorities given to Kāinga Ora by the government, Kāinga Ora will often redevelop sites it owns to make more efficient use of land it already owns.
"This means replacing many of our older state houses with more warm and dry homes in areas of high demand."
The changing demographics of those it was supporting meant the ability for Kāinga Ora to reconfigure its housing portfolio was "not just a ‘nice-to-have"’, Mr Neville said.
In general, the existing state homes of two or three-bedrooms built more than 50 years ago on larger sections, no longer met the needs of today’s households.
"Kāinga Ora is focused on reconfiguring its portfolio to meet the needs of today’s families and better match to current demand.
"Over time the reconfiguration of the portfolio will enable improvements in the form, function and quality of the housing within Kāinga Ora portfolio.
"In managing the reconfiguration, Kāinga Ora acknowledges that changes to the built form will be necessary."
The council’s heritage assessment said the house at 11 Wilkinson St had "historic and design significance as the first state house in Dunedin to be tenanted under the Labour government’s 1930s state housing scheme".
The house provided a "typical example" of an early state house and the property demonstrated the government’s vision for the ideal of domestic architecture and social initiatives that dominated 1930s New Zealand.
The assessment said Alf and Beryl Seamer were the first tenants in 1938.
Mr Seamer was a civil servant working for the Department of Agriculture.
The Seamers remained at the house until 1942.
Bill and Esma Lobb were the next to move in, staying until 1950.
The exterior remained in "substantially original" condition, but the interior had been reconfigured, the assessment said.
No-one was home when the Otago Daily Times visited yesterday.
