Pensioner housing sale now official

The sale of Horowhenua’s councilowned pensioner housing may be all but a done deal, but it remains a bitter bone of contention in the district.

At a media briefing on Wednesday, the Horowhenua District Council officially announced the sale of its 115 pensioner housing units was expected to be finalised within the next five weeks.

The briefing confirmed information leaked to the Manawatu Standard last week that revealed the council is selling the pensioner units to a new company, Compassion Horowhenua.

But the council would not confirm the controversial $5.5 million price tag – well below the property portfolio’s rateable value of $7.19 million. It did, however, concede the sale price was less than that.

And in a further twist, Horowhenua Mayor Michael Feyen, a vocal opponent of the deal, was only present at the briefing because he received a tip-off about it the previous night.

The sale has attracted widespread opposition because much of the wheeling and dealing has taken place behind closed council doors, although the council says it consulted rigorously.

The sale decision was made in a public-excluded committee meeting last month, while a 2000-signature petition opposing the sale was delivered to the council last week.

Grey Power, along with Feyen, has previously expressed concern and called for further consultation.

Council chief executive David Clapperton said consultation was over, the decision was made, and the deal would go through unless serious issues arose over the fiveweek due diligence period.

Clapperton said the sale price was fair, taking into account an outstanding $5.2m Housing New Zealand loan on the properties that would be transferred to Compassion Housing, and a projected $4.3m cost to replace 50-60 per cent of the units in the next 25 years.

The sale was conditional on the properties remaining community housing until 2029.

Compassion Housing is a joint venture between the Sisters of Compassion and private investment firm Willis Bond.

Sister Margaret Anne Mills said the order made a similar deal with Upper Hutt’s council in 2000, which had worked out well, and hoped they could repeat the success in Horowhenua.

The Sisters’ service manager manager from Upper Hutt would come to Horowhenua weekly, a local facilities manager and nurse will also be made available, she said.

The Sisters had nearly 100 years’ experience caring for the elderly, and were committed to providing secure, warm and affordable pensioner house well beyond the contractual obligation, she said.

Feyen said it was ‘‘unbelievable’’ he wasn’t kept in the loop about such an important issue, and a conference that included Clapperton and councillor Barry Judd. Instead, he learned of the briefing in a last-minute phone call from a friend.

‘‘I’m the bloody mayor... how is it that a councillor knew about it, but the mayor doesn’t?,’’ he said.

Clapperton said the announcement had been moved forward from the planed mid-july date, in response to the leak, and Feyen received warning the information was going to be released.

The mayor wasn’t involved with the briefing because he had not been party to the full details of the deal, Clapperton said.

Feyen was particularly irritated because his absence from the media briefing could have been seen as a sign the council suspected he had leaked the information.

He didn’t know who did, but it was a sign of a deep-seated opposition to this deal among the public and within the council itself, he said.