The Whakatāne District Council will seek formal community submissions on a proposal to transfer its pensioner housing service to an approved Community Housing Provider (CHP).
At its meeting yesterday, the Council endorsed the criteria and priorities for any transfer, which have been developed by a joint Council-stakeholder sub-committee established to lead a social housing review initiated earlier this year. The Council also agreed in principle to include the proposal in next year’s 2015-25 Long Term Plan and empowered the sub-committee to advance the review process by seeking ‘expressions of interest’ from suitable CHPs interested in taking over the ownership and delivery of the pensioner housing service.
Mayor Tony Bonne says the social housing review aims to address the issues which will affect the future delivery of the Council’s pensioner housing service, which currently provides 79 housing units – 73 in Whakatāne and six in Murupara.
“Two key factors are driving this. Firstly, demographics indicate that elderly residents will form an increasing proportion of our population, with the number of people over 65 years old set to double by 2035,” he explains. “The way central Government funds social housing has also changed, with support being channelled through community housing providers. Local government organisations are specifically excluded from those arrangements, which means that we would not have access to the funding needed to expand our housing stock to match the community’s need, or keep the quality of our units up to modern standards.”
He says the key criteria and priorities developed by the sub-committee to assess potential service providers establish some important safeguards for current and future tenants, and the wider community. “Protecting the rights and welfare of existing tenants is an absolute prerequisite, which includes the future affordability of rents. The sub-committee also believes that any provider should be registered as a CHP and have experience in working with older people, Māori and vulnerable members of the community.”
Other priorities for a suitable provider include local input into the governance of the service and a commitment to improving and growing the existing pensioner housing stock.
Expert input into the review and expression of interest process has been provided by The Property Group, which will assist the sub-committee to gather more definitive information on the proposed CHP delivery model before the Long Term Plan consultation process begins in March next year.
“Council elected members want to make it absolutely clear that our current tenants and the wider community will have opportunities for input into any future proposal to transfer our pensioner housing assets to a CHP. To gain Council support, that proposal will need to both safeguard the existing service and ensure that rents remain affordable. The feedback from our advisors and the sub-committee guiding this proposal has been very positive, and we look forward to bringing forward further details through the LTP process,” Mayor Bonne concludes.