City Housing Rent Adjustments
City Housing Rent Adjustments
Rents for City
Housing units will increase by 24 per cent to
fund
deferred maintenance and future replacement of the
Christchurch City
Council's 2649 housing units.
The
adjustment approved at today's Council meeting means tenants
will
pay rent increases of between $5.40 and $9 per week
and these increases
will take effect in July.
City
Housing's actual increase will not be directly reflected in
the
rents paid by tenants because of the effect of Work
and Income New
Zealand's accommodation supplement, which
pays a portion of most City
Housing tenants' rent
payments. The supplement offers up to a 70%
subsidy on
the increased rental.
The Council's General Manager of
Community Services, Michael Aitken,
said the Council was
totally committed to its role as a provider of
social
housing, and was the country's second largest provider of
social
housing - behind Housing New Zealand.
"City
Housing also has to be self funding, and does not get money
from
rates, which means it has to earn enough to ensure
its own future. That
means making sure we have enough
money to do things like redecorate
units, repair paths
and fences and ultimately to replace units when they
are
no longer suitable for rental," he said.
City Housing
focuses on providing safe, accessible, and
affordable
housing to people on low-incomes, including
the elderly and people with
disabilities, said Mr
Aitken.
"Even after this increase, almost all of City
Housing's tenants will be
within the Ministry of Social
development's affordability measure of 30%
of gross
income. It also leaves City Housing's average rent at only
58%
of market rent," Mr Aitken said.
He said the
increase follows four years of very modest rent
increases
and was necessary to ensure the future of the
Council's social
housing
stock.
ends