Auckland Council kicks out families to make way for carpark

Duncan Garner
Duncan Garner

If you ever needed reminding how woefully out of touch Auckland Council is when it comes to dealing with the housing crisis, this is it.

Fourteen properties on the edge of Monte Cecilia Park in the Auckland suburb of Royal Oak are about to be bulldozed. What for? 

They're landscaping it and using it for carparking. It relates to a decision made in 1998, when it was decided a growing Auckland needed more open space.

But the houses are coming down now, at a time when we have a housing crisis and people are living in cars!

I know! I hear you!

The rationale on the Council's website is ridiculous and downright insane.

They say the houses need to go as Auckland is growing and needs more open space. Hello? Don't we also need more houses if we're growing?

The Council also says removing the houses will improve access and visibility into the park.

It also "makes the most of the breath-taking views into Monte Cecilia Park with its gently sloping hills, majestic specimen trees and stately homestead," Kataraina Maki, Auckland Council's General Manager Community and Social Policy says on the website.

So apparently Aucklanders are more in need of parks than housing. This is just lunacy. We have people living in cars down the road in Mangere.

Time to wake up Auckland Council.