Local Trust to tackle affordable housing issues

February 29th, 2012
[by David Armstrong]

A trust is being set up as an entity to research the need for affordable social housing in Motueka and to advocate for long-overdue action to address this issue.

The determination to establish a trust was the key outcome of a meeting held this afternoon at St Andrews Uniting Church at which 14 people from several social agencies expressed and heard various perspectives on the breadth and seriousness of the problem in Motueka.

Many of those present offered themselves or representatives of their organisations to join the trust, which will also work collaboratively with other groups working in the wider district on similar issues, such as Habitat for Humanity and the Nelson-Tasman Housing Trust.

Much of the problem, most agreed, was the exorbitant fees charged by Tasman District Council for building a second dwelling on a property. TDC charges a $22,000 development fee before a second dwelling is allowed, much more than what Nelson charges. As a result, the Nelson/Tasman Housing Trust has been doing most of its recent work in Nelson, said spokesman Patrick Steer. They would be very happy to build affordable rental units in Motueka if well-priced land was available.

These costs drew particularly harsh criticism from Motueka developer Gary Cheatley, who said the new trust should put its energy into "removing the blocks" that the council puts up to discourage the use of spare land on established residential sections.

Meeting convenor Rev Peter Norman said he had seen problems with affordable housing raised many times in the past at Community Board meetings, so it was not new. However, nothing has been done as yet to resolve these issues. Unfortunately, ward councillors were unable to attend today's meeting as it coincided with the regular council meeting.

Peter said the issue has come to the fore again mainly through the notable findings of the street survey run last year by the High School's community issues class, which demonstrated clearly the belief by the sample of the population that housing was a key issue for Motueka. (See our story here).

He said New Zealand's housing stock is now under pressure, with fewer new houses being built than the rise in population. Motueka is also a relatively low-income area (the 2006 census shows the median income for those in Motueka over 15 to be $19,500 whereas nationally it is $24,400), and lower than normal home ownership (59% here versus 67% nationally). There are 103 Housing New Zealand houses in Motueka, but most are on quarter-acre sections which could be in-filled.

A representative of Habitat for Humanity said they would like to build houses for people in need in Motueka but have found it hard to acquire land, with no encouragement so far from Wakatu Inc. They had also advertised recently for eligible people needing a house to apply but no-one did.

Several of the people representing community service agencies spoke of the significant number of people who see them asking for help have housing as one of the main issues. Affordable housing for older people is also needed, especially for those looking for smaller sections, some who may have lost money to failed finance companies. People moving out of Christchurch and buying houses are also a factor in pushing up house prices.

Gavin Cook, the manager at Community Link, said that most people that approach WINZ with needs including a place to live manage to get some housing, sometimes in overcrowded conditions, but the high rental costs mean they have financial pressure on other parts of their lives.

Gabrielle Thorpe said it was important that the new trust work on not only how to make housing more affordable but also what are the root causes of the financial pressure that families and people experience.

The people attending the meeting agreed that it was important that the new trust not compete with the existing organisations doing similar work in the district, especially the Nelson-Tasman Housing Trust which has already provided 15 houses in Richmond and building nine more in Nelson.

Fragmentation of well-meaning organisations will mean that is available from Government will only go to the large private developers who will have no incentive to provide the types of houses that would qualify as "affordable", and who are working mainly in the largest need area, Auckland.

However, it was also true that Motueka needed a group to research and plan for local needs, but this would then lead to a point where that group could work with the district providers to advocate, lobby and seek solutions from local government and national government bodies.

Shane Graham, representing the Department of Internal Affairs, said he would be available to help set up the trust and source some money to enable it to start its research, and even talk with TDC on land and cost issues.

Peter Norman said the new Trust would "advocate and lobby for the needs of Motueka residents while collaborating and working in partnership with existing groups who are positioned to action any affordable housing in Motueka district such as Houses for Humanity and NTHT.

"The purpose of the group involves looking at and addressing the barriers to affordable housing, (such as) Council's current position, land suitable for housing, as well as understanding and lobbying around systemic causes of poverty."

Comment by Ron Sharp:
[Posted 3 March 2011]

Long overdue. Two question will be:
1) Because Motueka is basically a minimum-wage town and districts heavily reliant on a short seasonal work, where and how do the migrant workers get housed and what happens to their accommodation when they are gone?
2) Is the shifting of people in rental housing, when holliday season comes around, in favour of a hiked rental for a couple of months, a problem?

Comment by Malcolm Garrett:
[Posted 5 March 2011]

Most of the folk that get houses built for them by a builder are erecting very high value buildings with top facilities and lavish floor plans. How do we persuade builders to switch to more common sense floor plans, focusing on economy of both scale and reasonable value chattels?

One local builder said he could build such a house for $150,000, as opposed to the $450,000 range being nicely put up around town, but no one wanted one! Admittedly, these expensive ones are lovely to look at and very comfortable to live in, but lower wage people simply can't look at such a standard.

This is not to say that good insulation, and eco-friendly tech should not be implemented in such lower cost dwellings - in fact it would seem to be even more desirable that the living costs be lower than high value houses. A smaller section may be in order but not such that a home vege garden be precluded. Older folk would value a smaller dwelling as well. How about it, folks?

>> , to be added to the page. [If this link doesn't work, use this form instead]

[ Return ]
[ Other news articles ]

We wish to thank these local community-minded businesses who generously sponsor our site. They recognise the value of supporting this community asset, and in return Motueka Online is pleased to use and recommend their services whenever appropriate.

Ray White Motueka, Parkes Automotive, Motueka Floral Studio, Nelson Building Society, House of Travel