Thirty state-owned flats on Wellesley Road in Napier have been empty for a year, and the government still hasn't found someone willing to take them over as social housing, RNZ reports.

The government bought the flats from a private developer last year to stop them being abandoned when the market turned difficult. They were always meant for social housing — homes for people who can't afford market rent. The Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport now oversees them.

The ministry has been trying to sell the flats to a community housing group rather than run them itself. That sale fell through. Officials told RNZ a deal "did not proceed as expected" but wouldn't say why or who the buyer was supposed to be.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop was blunt. "I'm extremely frustrated," he said. He told RNZ he has made his feelings clear to officials, but he hasn't set a public deadline for fixing the problem or said what would happen if it isn't resolved soon.

The empty flats stand out against what's needed in Napier. More than 450 households are waiting for state housing in the city. Even Kāinga Ora — the Crown agency that runs most of the country's state homes — says the area is one where "too many people have nowhere suitable to live." Yet 30 finished flats have sat vacant for twelve months.

RNZ asked why Kāinga Ora couldn't just move in and house people while looking for a buyer. The answer shows a deliberate government choice: Kāinga Ora has been told to focus on fixing up and maintaining its current homes, not expanding. The government wants to keep Kāinga Ora from growing — partly for financial reasons — and instead have community housing groups build and manage more state housing.

The real issue is that the government is trying to cap how many homes Kāinga Ora runs, even as hundreds of people wait for housing. Community groups are meant to fill that gap. When a community group won't or can't take on a property — as happened here — there's no backup plan to get people into empty homes quickly.

This isn't the first time vacant state-linked housing has bothered ministers. Bishop said in January 2024 that the number of newly built state homes sitting empty across the country was "completely unacceptable." The Napier flats suggest that problem hasn't been fully fixed, even though the government's plan to rely on community groups instead of Kāinga Ora has become firmer.

The tension is real: ministers say Kāinga Ora's budget is stretched and can't expand, yet they say empty homes are unacceptable when people are waiting. Community groups are supposed to solve that. When they don't, there's no obvious way forward except to push officials to find an answer.

For now, the flats remain empty and unsold. The ministry is still looking for a community housing buyer. Bishop's public frustration hasn't yet led to a fix.