Time to act on pensioner housing
The South Taranaki Grey Power Association is asking the Government to reinstate all 53 district councils as providers of pensioner housing and to fund them at an attractive rate of 3% to make a one-off payment of $16 million each, enough to build 100 two-bedroom units.
The council, after 15 years of receiving rents at $300 per week, will then be in a position to become self-sustainable, no longer having to rely on government funding.
The result means that within 18 to 24 months, 10,600 people will be housed and up to 10,000 houses could become available for sale at a reasonable rate for young couples to buy.
We believe this proposal will help to reduce rental supplements by $100m annually.
Within the next 20 years, more than 50% of those retiring at 65 will be renters. A good percentage will be still paying a mortgage, many because of a crisis in their life such as widowhood, separation, illness, stroke, dementia – the list goes on.
Councils have a responsibility in this area and need to be seen to be doing something about it.
The minister for housing wants action, and we believe all councils should be on board with the minister. Any delay means cost increases plus cost blowouts.
If councils want Grey Power support at the next elections, they ought to address what is becoming the most significant issue in this country: the need for pensioner rental units.
We believe councils have the infrastructure, the knowledge of their people’s needs, experts, and an effective communication environment.
“As a region, we need action” – that is the obvious clarion call.
However, beyond the croquet lawns, nastiness needs to be kicked into touch.
In Taranaki, I often hear resistance to my prompting of the New Plymouth District Council to build more rental homes for pensioners.
Too often I hear statements like “Those in the rental sector only have themselves to blame” or “It is not the council’s responsibility.”
Civilised societies listen not just to fortunate homeowners but also to renters. In particular, they listen and respond to vulnerable groups in need of support.
Sadly there are quite a few in Taranaki who need reminding of what constitutes a civilised society.
It is a common danger that the more people have, the greater their tendency to focus on protecting what they have and to ignore the needs of the wider community.
Put simply, the more we have, the more likely we are to become selfish in our ways and actions.
I have created nzhomes.org to campaign for small-footprint pensioner rental homes that are specifically designed not to be a burden to ratepayers.
All homeowners who desire to live in a civilised society should be actively supporting such endeavours. That includes the New Plymouth District Council as much as Taranaki homeowners.
I am astounded by the almost promotion of this practice recently in the media and by certain sections of society.
The naive reasoning, which is of course supported by the hospitality trade, is that tipping improves service.
In the beginning, this may well happen here. But what these simple souls don’t know is the inevitable ugly progression.
In my original home country of Austria, which is one of Europe’s prime tourism hubs, tipping has become a social must and the reason is simple.
Service industry employees generally receive a retainer or very low wages and are forced to make up the difference from tips. With this situation being so normalised, the Austrian tax office regards tips as part of an employee’s income, which is of course taxable.
However, the taxmen do not rely on a voluntary declaration. They simply assess how much a waiter working in a particular establishment in a particular locality can expect to earn in tips and set a tax demand accordingly.
These assessments are based on records and surveys.
It isn’t just waiters who are caught up in this – it applies to virtually all people working in such industries.
During my visits I frequently witnessed the degrading contortions some people had to go through to extract tips.
When my own mother was taken to hospital to die, my father had to tip the ambulance driver to learn which hospital my mother was taken to.
Once this rot sets in, it will be impossible to eradicate.
Fred Kumeroa, South Taranaki Grey Power president
Tim Hall, New Plymouth
Herb Spannagl, New Plymouth
New Zealand’s economy has been going downhill for decades.
This has been caused by a huge increase in the growth of central and local government, which takes more and more of our wealth. It is making us poorer, and it always affects the low- and middleincome people the most.
The New Plymouth District Council is working on its Long-term Plan. For the good of the district and people, do not increase rates.
Big government, central or local, is only good for the government and not for the people or the district. We will never have a wealthy country again until the state and taxes are far smaller.
High taxes leave less money for creating more wealth and jobs. Creating wealth is the only way to get rid of poverty.
Mike Webber, Inglewood
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