Housing train leaves the station – but not enough carriages

Thursday, 17 May 2012, 11:50 am
Press Release: Community Housing Aotearoa

Community Housing Aotearoa
Media Release
17 May 2012

The Community Housing train leaves the station – but not enough carriages

New Zealand’s representative organisation for the not-for-profit housing sector, Community Housing Aotearoa (CHA), is encouraged by yesterday’s announcement of the allocation of the Government's $37.35 million social housing fund, but also notes the recent conclusion of the Productivity Commission that this is “well short of what is needed”.

“We are particularly heartened by the fact that the organisations who are being funded reflect an appropriate mix of community housing providers from within the membership of Community Housing Aotearoa, though we are well aware of plenty of groups serving areas where the local housing need is equally high who missed out due to the small and fragmented nature of the fund,” says David McCartney, Executive Officer of Community Housing Aotearoa.

"The majority of recipient organisations across the different allocations agreed for Growth, Niche, Maori and Rural providers so far, are in Auckland which is sensible given the severity of the affordable housing crisis in that region. However, the fact remains that applications for this round of part-funding exceeded the available dollar-for-dollar subsidy by more than $130 million and even conservative estimates indicate the potential for $340 million of new social housing.

"The frustration within the community housing sector is that many commercially valid and socially needed housing projects remain untapped and we have a concern that there has been no sector-wide input as yet into the pending Social Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) to ensure that those opportunities and needs are put into the plan.

" To keep the ball rolling towards meeting the huge demand for community housing will require an increased proportion of contribution from the crown – whether by way of monetary grant, freeing up land , transfer of state housing assets or tacking the current housing subsidy imbalance as recommended by the Productivity Commission.

"Finally, we look forward to the announcement of the allocation of the remainder of this financial year’s social housing fund, the bulk of which is $2.3 million of the Maori fund and $2 million set aside for Canterbury."

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Community Housing Aotearoa

Nga Wharerau o Aotearoa

Community Housing Aotearoa is the peak body for New Zealand's community housing sector. Our 110 members build and manage affordable and social housing.

Our Vision is to make sure every New Zealander is well-housed in a warm, safe, dry and affordable home. This is a basic human right.

We work to support the growth and development of community housing providers to enable them to provide affordable and social housing.

We want to demonstrate that community housing is a critical element alongside private and government owned housing. No one can do it alone.

Community Housing Aotearoa aims to:

1. be the voice of the community housing sector
2. build capacity and foster collaboration
3. promote best practice in housing policy
4. champion quality and excellence.

Contact Community Housing Aotearoa

• Website - communityhousing.org.nz/
• Our Place - Learn how we think this can be achieved
• Phone - +64 4 385 8722
• About us - Our 2021 annual report is online here
• Email - support@communityhousing.org.nz
• Link - Members directory
• Physical Address - Level 11, Ranchhod Tower, 39 The Terrace/102-112 Lambton Quay, Wellington