In 2023 work began on a long anticipated social housing rebuild at 2-12 Albertson Ave, Port Chalmers.
This plan to build 11 new social housing units involved demolishing long-serving social housing flats on the site and relocating the tenants for the duration of the rebuild.
The occupants of the flats who had to move out included children on the roll at the primary school up the road.
Those tenants were promised first dibs on the new houses that were being built. They were told they could come back to their community.
But last year, after just short of $1 million had been spent demolishing the existing housing, clearing the site, and preparing for the rebuild, the project was put on hold.
We had a new government and Kāinga Ora was reassessing its entire social housing work programme.
A few months later the rebuild was cancelled. The kids who used to live there would not be coming back to the school they loved.
West Harbour residents were shocked by the loss of these existing community members, the loss of future community members, and the loss of 11 much-needed social houses in the midst of a housing crisis.
So, when the land suddenly appeared for sale on Trade Me in late August, there was a real sense of sadness. State houses on that site have homed working families and low-income households for about 80 years. We want that to continue.
The need now is greater than ever, and the permanent loss of this state housing land would be a real loss to Port Chalmers. The families and residents the social housing will bring here will contribute to our local economy and local community in so many ways, bolstering school rolls, spending money at our shops, joining our sports clubs.
Selling off this important asset at a fire sale price on the open market is also a bad deal for taxpayers. The social and economic impacts of increasing homelessness and housing insecurity are considerable, placing greater strain on our already overburdened and under-resourced social service providers, and our health and justice systems.
Local opposition to the sale is clear. In just one month 650 people signed a petition addressed to Kāinga Ora leadership calling for the retention of the Albertson Ave land for social housing provision. Community leaders who signed the petition included Dunedin’s new Mayor Sophie Barker, and Dunedin city councillors Andrew Simms, Marie Laufiso, Steve Walker, Mickey Treadwell and Mandy Mayhem.
Two community hui have been held on the site to demonstrate public opposition to the sale. Local Labour and Green MPs have attended to listen and show support.
Dunedin MP Rachel Brooking has called on Housing Minister Chris Bishop to "stop the sale of this important social housing site and to build the houses".
Green Party housing spokeswoman Tamatha Paul says the cancelled Port Chalmers rebuild and move to sell the land "represents a trampling of the community’s expectations".
The sale of the land at Albertson Ave had a deadline of October 7. That deadline has passed and the land wasn’t sold.
That’s the good news. But the bad news is that Kāinga Ora is still seeking potential buyers.
The land should be taken off the market entirely. The spot is very well suited for its long-established purpose. It is close to schools, shops, ECEs, open spaces, a doctor’s surgery, public transport, sports grounds, and the shared pathway, Te Ara Moana.
State houses first went up there just after the end of World War 2, and Albertson Ave itself is named for George Albertson of Port Chalmers, who was the head of prime minister Peter Fraser’s state housing programme.
As of June 2025, there were 378 applicants on the Dunedin Housing Register, our social housing waiting list. Working families are experiencing housing pressures like never before, and Dunedin has a permanent homeless camp for the first time since the Great Depression. We need social housing more than ever.
In 2023 Kāinga Ora’s Otago Southland regional director Kerrie Young said the planned rebuild at Albertson Ave would mean "more people can live in areas like Port Chalmers that are close to schools, open spaces, shops and other amenities". That was a good thing then, and it’s a good thing now.
Kāinga Ora should retain the land in Albertson Ave in Port Chalmers and make good on its earlier commitment to much-needed social housing development on the site.
— Duncan Eddy is a member of the West Harbour Community Board.
