In response to the latest Gwynn Compton social housing statement — here.
KCDC Management maintain they are unable to sustain the cost of providing the current 118 pensioner housing units and have hired a consultant to prepare a report on the options available to the council. I fear the outcome of this report, and hope the ‘outside’ consultant is not used to put a FOR SALE plan on the table.
[Waikanae Watch editor] Geoffrey Churchman and I have made multiple O.I.A. requests to council to find the true ‘cost to council’ for the past 12 months. Each time we ask, we get a different response. Three different sets of figures have been provided so far and it is an absolute joke.
The Mayor alone, also publicly states that it is not the role of KCDC to provide Social housing, it is Central Government’s role. He should keep his personal opinions to himself. This statement is NOT supported by some councillors. And I am absolutely in support of the council finding ways to continue the super job our community, including many members of my own family, has done for decades to build, pay for and provide much needed social housing neighbourhoods in Kapiti.
I agree entirely that action on the Community Housing Taskforce report should have started the day it was written, and it has been a long cold two year wait that has done nothing to meet the housing needs of the community. The Central Government public housing statistics are interesting given they show a 50 applicant rise over the same period a recently completed audit of the KCDC applicant register shows a drop from over 100 applicants to less than 50. This is half the average (waiting) list which has been steadily over 100 for the past five years. However, I challenge the Mayoral candidate Mr Compton’s claim that only one past applicant has found suitable housing. Given their privacy is completely protected at all times, how did he investigate the 50 past applicants? A please explain is urgently needed.
I also do not agree that ‘other districts in our wider region are any example to go by’, given that in October 2017, Horowhenua District Council sold their entire 115 unit social housing stock to Compassion Housing, fully funded and 100% share owned by Mark McGuiness’s of Willis and Bond, Wellington based property developers. According to Levin residents, the management have been more stringent about renewing tenancies ever since which may be causing the extra pressure on the Kapiti public housing list. We are only 15 minutes away. It would be ideal to be able to house everyone safely in the future. KCDC needs a new social housing policy committed to meeting the needs of the community as well as the council.
KCDC Cr Jackie Elliott
jackie.elliott@kapiticoast.govt.nz
Councillor Elliott is quite mistaken. It wasn’t my claim, it was in this story from Radio NZ using figures sourced from Kāpiti Coast District Council: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/394288/pensioners-left-waiting-for-more-than-two-years-for-council-housing
Councillor Elliott would do well to check her facts before issuing challenges.
Yes thank you for your comments Gwyn, i have double checked your article f 15 July where you are quoted in the second sentence. No mistake made, but really pleased you are concerned about the future of the council owned social housing stock too
Evidently your double checking wasn’t that thorough – there’s a clearly marked link (the underlined text – the same format every website uses to denote a link) to the RNZ story in it where it says “following news” (itself further indicating that the source was a news article from somewhere else): https://www.gwynncompton.co.nz/blog-and-media-releases/2019/7/14/councils-social-housing-attitude-absolutely-disgraceful
It’s clear you’ve gotten yourself confused over this and made an inaccurate statement as a result. I’m sure it’s all an innocent mistake on your part, but please be more careful in future – or even better still feel free to get in touch – before making careless statements about a candidate.