The Auckland City Council has had a long and proud involvement in housing since the early 1900s. It was only three years ago, that the John Banks-led Citizen & Ratepayer Now council ended that involvement by selling the city's pensioner and residential housing portfolio.
Sunday, February 20th 2005, 6:58AM
by The Landlord
In so doing, it became the only council in the Auckland region without a stock of housing. Now, it is one of only a handful of local authorities to have opted out of this important civic responsibility.
Local government is the country's largest not-for-profit provider of rental housing after Housing New Zealand. Wellington and Christchurch provide housing for more than 5000 households.
Why does the Auckland City Council want to provide affordable housing? The simple fact is that there is a vast shortage of it in Auckland. "Affordable" means people have access to suitable housing that costs less than 30 per cent of their gross income.
It is estimated that 23,000 (6 per cent) of households in the region are paying more.
