A subcommittee comprising Whakatāne District Council elected members and community stakeholders will be established to investigate and recommend a future management and/or ownership option for the Council’s pensioner housing units.
A report presenting community feedback on a Council review of its social housing service was received at last week’s Policy Committee meeting. Councillors acknowledged that most current tenants preferred the pensioner housing service to continue under Council ownership and management, but expressed strong concerns that such a course would not address the issues affecting the social housing sector.
“It’s completely understandable that there would be a level of apprehension about a change in the way the housing service is delivered,” Mayor Tony Bonne says. “But the Council would be failing in its duty of care if we did not consider an alternative option which can both safeguard the availability of affordable housing and ensure that the quality and scale of the service keeps up with the community’s needs.”
He says the key issues to be addressed included the increase in demand for pensioner housing arising from a predicted doubling of the District’s elderly population by 2035, and changes in the way central Government delivers and funds social housing.
“Future Government funding for the construction and upgrading of social housing will only be available to accredited Community Housing Providers (CHP), and local government is specifically excluded from any subsidies that may be available. There’s no doubt that if Council continues to deliver pensioner housing, substantial investment will be required to upgrade our current, ageing housing stock and build new homes to meet the future demand,” he explains. “The reality is that we will not be able to provide that level of funding input, so we have no choice but to look for a better way.
“We believe transferring ownership and management of our housing assets to an approved CHP offers the best long-term solution and the Council has decided to form a subcommittee with a strong community stakeholder presence to evaluate potential providers and advise us on how best to proceed.”
The subcommittee will be expected to make recommendations about appropriate Community Housing Providers to the Policy Committee before the end of the year so that any changes involved can be incorporated in the draft 2015-25 Long Term Plan, which will then be subject to a full community consultation process in April next year. The Council representatives on the subcommittee will be the Mayor, Deputy Mayor Judy Turner and Councillors Scott Jarrett and Alison Silcock. Community stakeholder representatives are expected to be announced in the near future.
“The current and future tenants of our pensioner units can have complete confidence that if there is any change in the service, it will be for their benefit. Enhancing the quality of the housing provided and ensuring that rents will always be affordable are the key drivers and the Council is absolutely determined to safeguard this important community asset,” Mayor Bonne concludes.