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City Councils and accommodation.
Topic Started: 16 Oct 2014, 04:14 PM (121 Views)
Sandy
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Many of the local councils here have gone into rental accommodation for people living in their areas.. The Wellington council for instance has flats, or apartments ranging in size from bedsitters to 3 bedroom flats, they also had quite a few houses at one stage, but were slowly selling these in favour of concentrating on the flats.. While I was in Wellington the council owned some 2,500 flats and a further 100 houses..

The Wellington places were for pretty much anyone to live in, but the good thing was, and is that renting with them is a lot cheaper than renting in the private sector, or a place that's privately owned.. While I was down there, the folk on benefits or pensions paid about 75% of market rent while the folk that had a reasonably well paid job paid market rent and could only stay for a maximum of 5 years, which gave enough time to save for a deposit on a house back then.. If you were on benefits, you got to stay indefinitely, as long as your rent was paid of course..

Here in Napier the council owns some 500 flats, all of which were built with the lower income folk in mind, so anyone over the age of 55 could apply for a place here as long as they no longer work, and only have a limited income like a pension or benefits.. The flats here, and in places like Nelson are there for the older folk and pensioners who can't afford to pay the full market rent because of not having any savings, and only a benefit or pension to live on..

Back when various councils decided to start having rental accommodation the government gave low interest loans to the councils so they could build, and then pay off the loans reasonably quickly, so a lot of councils took advantage of it and got place built as quickly as possible..

I think while living in the places is good, it takes a bit of getting used to having a lot of people around you in a fairly small area, where I am now for instance, there's 50 flats on a 1 acre bit of land.. If I was still in Wellington I'd still be in a 10 floor high rise apartment block, always folk coming and going and different things happening with the neighbours like parties or church events.. The building I was in in Wellington had almost 500 people living in it as the flats ranged in size from bedsitters to 3 bedroom flats, a few were 4 bedroom flats,so a lot of people in a small area which took a little getting used to, especially after being in a place where there was only one or two flats next to you..

The upside being here is that the rent is a lot cheaper than renting from a private landlord, if I went out looking for something similar to what I have now, I'd possibly pay at least $50 a week more for my rent than I am now, so if you're on a low income, that's a big saving, especially if your health isn't to good and a bit of your income goes on doctors visits and chemists bills..

I think for me, the biggest thing to get used to was little or no sound proofing in the flats, I remember the first flat I was in some 20 years ago, I could hear the neighbour when he went to the bathroom if he was a little noisy, lol.. It took a little getting used to..

All in all I think it was a good thing local councils going into housing, it looks good for them in my opinion as it shows they take an interest in the older and elderly folk in their towns or cities, and in return we get cheaper reasonable quality accommodation from it, even if there is usually a waiting list to get into the places...
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Sandy
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One thing I've noticed with the councils is the fact they keep up the maintenance quite well, better than a lot of landlords in the private sector.. Te Wellington city council was very good while I was there, any maintenance was done within 3 days unless it was urgent like a busted water pipe, or an electrical problem, then it was fixed straight away..

In some respects here is good too, they can be very slow on some things, but in saying that they have spent a lot of money here lately getting the outsides of the places painted and a few other jobs done over the last year or two.. Given they have less money to work with here, they do quite well really.. The rents in here are a good $50 a week less than the private sector, so they get less to spend every year.. The flats here look better than they did when I shifted in 13 years ago, and the council spending a bit of money getting maintenance and such done.. It'll be interesting to see how long it is before they spend money on the insides of the places though, mine hasn't had anything done since well before I shifted in 13.5 years ago, so some paint work and wallpaper would go a treat..

Overall, I think that with the limited budgets most councils have, they do reasonably well in keeping the places looking respectable, even if we would like to see more done sooner.. The problem is, if they use ratepayer money to do maintenance, then the ratepayers will make a fuss if they find out, so councils are restricted to using profits from rent money to pay for any maintenance and improvements to the places...
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