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NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT HOUSING CHANGES WELCOMED IN QUEENSTOWN

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December, 2010

The Queenstown Lakes District Council hopes key changes to the future direction of affordable housing announced by the New Zealand government recently will give weight to its local housing trust.
The changes to the future direction of affordable housing have been applauded by the council, its chief executive Debra Lawson said.
The government has announced that it will adopt key recommendations of the Housing Shareholders Advisory Group.
QLDC commends the government and the Housing Shareholders Advisory Group for identifying the potential for a strong community housing sector in New Zealand. This totally aligns with the direction that our district took back in 2005 with the adoption of the Housing Our People in Our Environment (HOPE) Strategy, Ms Lawson said.
Implementation of the 32-action strategy included the formation of the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust to deliver affordable housing. The Trust has been successful at matching local development contributions (council-negotiated) with government funds, making housing affordable for local working families.
The issue of whether the trust will retain its tax-exempt status with the Charities Commission is the subject of a High Court appeal scheduled to be heard in March 2011.
We hope this new approach from government will also tackle the issue of tax exemption for community housing organisations. Its essential this matter gets resolved, Ms Lawson said.
The council would await further announcements from the government, especially on how the detail of its proposals will be implemented.
It looked like a lot of what council had been saying had been listened to. In particular I would like to acknowledge the ground breaking work initially of Council staff and more latterly of the trust. This is clearly a model that can work well, she said.

Where the council could contribute skills or expertise, it was happy to continue to participate in the process and the conversation with the government, Ms Lawson said.
Community Housing organisations had a unique position, sitting between local government, central government and the private sector, council senior policy analyst-housing Scott Figenshow said.
This has enabled the trust to secure funding and build alliances that wouldnt happen otherwise he said.