'Genuine need' for pensioner housing in Tasman district

Friday, 22 September 2017

Tasman District Council-owned cottages in Wakefield.

More than 100 people are on the waiting list for a Tasman District Council-owned pensioner unit.

The council has 101 mainly one-bedroom cottages across the district: 34 at Richmond, 45 at Motueka, four at Takaka, four at Murchison, seven at Wakefield and seven at Brightwater. The waiting list stands at 104 with 65 at Richmond, 34 at Motueka and five for the other areas.

In a report for the community development committee meeting this week, strategic development policy officer Sandra Hartley says there is a 'genuine need' for long-term affordable accommodation for older adults in the district.

'Demand for these cottages is high in most areas of the district.'

The council has historically provided cottages to help people, generally over 65, who cannot afford a home in the private housing market with rent charged at 80 per cent of the market rate, Hartley says.

* Nelson's ageing population puts pressure on housing

* Health system struggling to cope with elderly increase

* Designing facilities for an ageing population**

She adds that the cottages were originally constructed and funded through Government loans that had low concessionary interest rates.

Before Hartley presented her report, community development manager Susan Edwards said since the meeting agenda had been released, there had been 'email traffic' around the wider issue of housing for older people. However, the report on the agenda was to update an expired council policy to enable staff to manage the units.

'It's not an opportunity to discuss whether council should be involved in housing for elderly, it's not an opportunity to discuss the level of the dividend that should or shouldn't be paid, nor is it an opportunity to discuss whether we should build more houses,' Edwards said.

'They're all matters that really need to be for discussion through the Long Term Plan process.'

The wider matter was likely to be discussed at workshop scheduled for October 6, she said.

Cr Dana Wensley said she would like to have that discussion on the dividend and 'feeding that back'.

After the meeting, TDC community relations manager Chris Choat said the income from the cottages was about $780,000 a year.

The bulk of that income, about $666,000, was kept in the closed account and used to maintain, upgrade and operate the units. The remaining $114,000 was a dividend, used for the council's reserves and facilities.

'It's basically self-funding,' Choat said.

Of the 104 people on the waiting list, about 15 were neither resident in the district nor had family in the area – two criteria used to help determine the priority of applicants. The waiting list was fairly consistent though it tended to be a bit higher in winter compared with summer, he said.

The little-changed revised document does have a name change from Policy on Pensioner Housing to Policy on Housing for Older Adults.

In her report, Hartley says the policy review 'has encompassed only minor changes to reflect updated definitions/terminology, including a more 'age friendly' description of eligible people'.