Council has just declared they are raising pensioner flat rents by 5.3%. I don’t have an issue with that increase — it’s not far above inflation and rents are still set at only 63% of market levels.

But here’s the real problem:

Rent collected: $3.1 million

Maintenance spend this year: $2.6 million (84% of rental income)

If these houses were privately owned, rates would be around $880,000

Management/letting assumption at 8% costs: $240,000

That puts the real cost of running this housing at over $3.6 million, meaning Council is effectively running the flats at a loss of around $500,000 every year.

A dedicated community trust could manage this far more efficiently, draw on eeca government grants for healthy homes upgrades (which Council cannot access), negotiate lower rates with smaller contractors with lower overheads to drive down maintenance costs.

All the while keeping rents affordable for our most vulnerable senior citizens.

This is about good management, not creative accounting effectively shifting real costs to our ratepayers.

This Community Trust formula worked in Feilding, why reinvent the wheel. Lets not be afraid of looking outside of our District for answers.