The Marlborough District Council has raised the age-qualifying threshold on its community housing as a way to help manage growing demand.
Photo: 123RF
The council will also increase rent to help fund upgrades on its 179 one and two-bedroom senior housing units - the majority of which were built in the 1960s and 1970s with the help of government subsidies.
Councillor Cynthia Brooks, who chaired the council's senior housing sub-committee, said some of the units were now vacant as the council did not feel they were of a liveable standard, including some damaged in the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake which caused widespread damage in Marlborough.
Others did not meet modern warrant-of-fitness standards over heating and insulation.
Mrs Brooks said there were now about 100 people in the district waiting for a community home, even after the age criteria was lifted from 55 to 60.
"We want to know that those who are going in are the ones who really need to be there - those who don't have other options.
"For some, there would still be options in the private rental market."
Mrs Brooks said rent formulas would change from being inflation adjusted to 80 percent of market value which was currently on average $160 a week for a single-bedroom flat.
The rent on a one bedroom council unit in Blenheim currently ranged from $120 to $150 a week, depending on what street it was in.
"The model used previously to strike the rent was based on the lesser of CPI or superannuation increases but has simply not kept pace with costs, such as insurance, refurbishment and maintenance, and in the case of the uninhabitable units to replace them."
Mrs Brooks said the decision was not made lightly, and tenants were consulted. She said for some, the increase would not be met entirely by their full entitlement to an accommodation supplement.
"It is unsettling and the cause of some discomfort to our elderly tenants but we have provided each with a wrap-around individual support service as they transition to the new weekly rental they are required to pay."
Other councils around the country had sold their senior housing units or leased them out to other entities to run, Mrs Brooks said.
"We are reluctant to take this step, despite the difficulties we face in keeping them."
Mrs Brooks said the number of life-long renters was also projected to grow, which would cause more pressure on the senior housing market. She said the council had plans before government for more intensive housing as one way of increasing stock.
"We can't do it on the current budget so we're looking at the government for possible partnership models to help us 'up' the stock and its quality."
The council housing stock had in recent years become partially rates-funded.
