Council keen for housing research again

THE Central Otago District Council has recommitted $50,000 towards research that will analyse housing stock and needs in the district.

Councillors yesterday approved the spending but Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan reminded them it was funding that had already been allocated but not yet used.

The money was allocated to the Central Otago Affordable Housing Trust as part of the council’s longterm plan for a ‘‘needs assessment’’ study so the council could decide whether it should be involved in future housing initiatives.

However, the needs assessment proposal submitted by the trust in May this year replicated much of the work being done by the Southern District Health Board’s housing study and a Cromwell housing ‘‘stocktake’’ analysis done as part of the Cromwell masterplan.

Therefore the trust decided to wait until the other reports were completed, and the $47,000 of the original $50,000 that was unspent ($3000 having been spent for legal costs setting up the trust) was put back into council reserves.

The other two studies have since been completed, and $50,000 was now sought to continue the housing research, council chief adviser Dr Saskia Righarts said.

This would allow districtwide data to be collected and analysed — including for the Teviot, Maniototo and Vincent wards — and for other council strategy and policy work around housing issues to continue, Dr Righarts said.

Councillors said it was vital to collect hard, quantitative data, especially because the health board report, while excellent, focused on anecdotal, or qualitative, evidence.

The final draft of the Cromwell housing stocktake analysis done for the Cromwell masterplan is about to be presented to and considered by councillors.