Community house trust reaches out to Waimakariri council

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Northern Outlook

From local democracy reporter David Hill:

A Christchurch-based community trust has reached out to address social housing gaps in the wider region, including Waimakariri.

The Waimakariri District Council earlier this month expressed its support to the Otautahi Community Housing Trust in setting up a sister trust to support housing initiatives outside of Christchurch.

The trust is one of the largest social housing providers in the country, with 2400 housing units on its books.

As the existing trust is contracted to the Christchurch City Council, a new trust would need to be created to operate in other Canterbury districts, including Waimakariri.

Waimakariri District Council strategic projects general manager Simon Markham said the approach to the council followed the establishment of a Waimakariri social housing group last year.

The group was established amid rising house prices and high rents, a growing social housing waiting list and a growing population in the district.

‘‘The need in this space is very difficult to determine because many are not on the waiting list,’’ Markham said.

‘‘What we do know is the Ministry of Social Development’s waiting list in this district is around 100 households and it’s increased by 100% in the last 12 months.’’

With limited social housing available in the district, many were forced into camping grounds or into social housing in Christchurch.

The council owned 100 older person’s housing units, Kainga Ora owned more than 100 units in the district and there were around 20 to 30 other units run by other community housing providers including Vision West.

Waimakariri had one of the highest rates of home ownership in the country, but rental housing stocks were low, Markham said.

Nearly 1000 houses were lost in the Kaiapoi red zone following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, with a significant proportion of those homes being rentals.

A number of landlords had also taken the opportunity to ‘‘cash up’’ after the earthquakes, reducing the district’s rental housing, Markham said.

Few new builds now were rentals.

With the district’s ageing and rapidly growing population, the situation would likely get worse if it was not addressed, Markham said.

‘‘We have a long term strategic need because of our ageing population, with more and more households heading into retirement who are not in home ownership or do not have enough equity.’’

He said an independent community trust would be able to apply for income-related housing subsidies, which were not available to the council.

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