Rent supplement system review request likely
AN urgent review is needed into a system that applies a handbrake to the provision of community housing, the Dunedin City Council looks set to argue.
The council owns and is the operator of some housing, but doing so places the city at a disadvantage for tapping into some funding.
A document to be discussed by councillors next week indicates the council is increasingly irritated that the city misses out on some money, because a subsidy is available to community housing providers, but not councils.
If a draft submission about a national 30year housing and urban development vision is approved, councillors will ask for an urgent review of the Work and Income accommodation supplement system.
If councils were given access to the incomerelated rents subsidy, they could charge rent at market rates and invest in their housing stock more easily, they could argue.
The city council’s draft submission covers a series of other subjects, including housing affordability and energy efficiency.
It provides general support for the vision proposed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, ‘‘that everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand lives in a healthy, safe, secure and affordable home that meets their needs, within a thriving, inclusive and sustainable community’’.
The draft submission highlights that South Dunedin is in a lowlying area and is densely populated and notes the council would support government objectives for thriving communities.
It is at its most pointed, however, on the subject of the accommodation supplement, apparently flagging discontent with lack of access to the incomerelated rent subsidy.
In Dunedin, the average weekly rent in city council housing was reported to be just $135 in May and the portfolio was not breaking even for the council.
The council has also decided to spend $2 million a year to fund new community housing stock in its 10year plan, citing a growing need.
The Wellington and Dunedin city councils have both previously written to Minister of Housing Dr Megan Woods about incomerelated rent subsidies, but no change of approach has been indicated.
In 2018, the Ministry of Social Development estimated it would cost up to $175.6 million a year to extend the subsidy to all council housing and eligible tenants.