Housing Minister Maryan Street recently visited the residential road and said it provided a good opportunity for redevelopment as a mixed housing area in partnership with not-for-profit organisations and the local authority.
Potential partners say they support the plan in theory, but have not heard enough detail yet.
Housing New Zealand (HNZ) owns 58 houses, or 72 per cent, of the 80 houses in Murray St.
Ms Street said she wanted to increase the supply of affordable housing and improve the mix of housing types in state housing areas.
To achieve this, a redevelopment of Murray St could involve partnerships with not-for-profit providers of affordable housing such as Habitat for Humanity, Pact and Abbeyfield, she said.
‘‘I am very keen to promote joint ventures.
‘‘That way, we can all get more bang for our buck.''
Possibilities for the street included retaining some housing as state housing, selling land or houses to not-for-profit providers at a discount rate, the Crown building new houses to sell to first-home buyers or selling land to other developers.
‘‘We are looking at this from the point of view of creating communities. What sort of community do we want this to be?'' Ms Street said.
‘‘We are not interested in concentrations of deprivation or wealth.''
Some preliminary discussions with possible partners had been held, HNZ southern region manager Shane Chisholm said.
‘‘Areas such as Murray St, where the Crown has a significant investment in both land and housing, provide future opportunities to work in partnership with the community to renew and develop the built environment,'' Mr Chisholm said.
HNZ would be considering its options for Murray St during the next 12 months, he said.
Abbeyfield chairman JB Munro said there had been some discussion with HNZ about redeveloping two storey state housing in Murray St as affordable community housing for older people.
‘‘We are keen to be asked by them to attend a meeting to discuss the details,'' Mr Munro said.
Habitat for Humanity Dunedin board member Colin McLeod said the street ‘‘would be a good place, if the land is affordable''.
‘‘We don't know enough about it yet.''
Dunedin City Council community development chairman Paul Hudson said HNZ's ideas for Murray St were ‘‘all what the city council has been advocating for a while'' but he was waiting to hear more details.
‘‘It depends on what they want,'' Cr Hudson said.
‘‘We have just finished our annual plan process and there is no money allocated for this.
‘‘But words and advice don't necessarily cost anything.''
The city council does not at present have a social housing strategy, but a meeting next week will consider re-establishing a social housing working party.
Mosgiel Taieri Community Board deputy chairman Chris Adams said the Murray St plan was ‘‘all news to me'' but he would support any initiative ‘‘to see the houses tidied up and the street upgraded''.
Pact chief executive Louise Carr could not be contacted for comment.
Pact supports people with intellectual disabilities and people recovering from mental illness.
Housing New Zealand owns 1526 properties in Dunedin.
