Waiting for rental accommodation

Press, 15 July 1987, Page 17

Waiting for rental accommodation

Women make up a large proportion of the 900 people on the waiting list for the corporation’s rental housing in Canterbury.

Peter Mackie, the local assistant manager of rental housing, says that a vast majority of those on the waiting list are single parents. Of these, an “enormous majority” are women with either one or two children.

“Our greatest demand at this point in time is for

the two-bedroom, small family units.” While the corporation tries to help as many people as it can, it does not have a bottomless pool of houses, he points out.

The total number of rental units available in Canterbury (including Timaru and Ashburton) is 7000. Many of these are tied into long-term tenancies.

“With only 10 to 15 houses coming available per week, only those at the top of the waiting list can be assisted.”

People on the waiting list are graded on a points system according to need, explains Peter Mackie.

“We have to categorise people for want of some fair way of allocating our houses. Each applicant gets so many points out of 100 depending on their need — no allowance is

given for the time spent on the waiting list. “So there may be some individuals or families who have been on the waiting list only a week that we can assist and some who may have been on the waiting list for five years or more. “Given their need we can, unfortunately and I mean unfortunately, not help them.”

According to the official statistics, produced at the end of March, there are presently 900 people on the waiting list, he says. About 104 of these people have an urgent priority

rating. When allocating grading points, the corporation looks at existing accommodation, income, and the ability to pay. the rent being asked.

“There are other, factors but these are the main three.” All applicants for cor-

poration rental housing must have a fixed abode at the time of making the application. “All of those on the waiting list had a fixed abode of some quality when they applied. Their need grading is linked to the quality of that existing accommodation — the poorer the accommodation, the greater the priority given to the applicant.” However, Peter Mackie admits that there are some people on the waiting list who are homeless. “The corporation does not provide emergency housing, but there is some

in Christchurch provided by special agencies. If a person comes to us and is literally homeless, we would advise them of where to get in touch with those agencies. “We would accept their application for rental accommodation with an emergency house as their fixed abode. “Today we would have a number of applicants on our books who are in emergency housing — they would be given a fairly high priority rating given their situation.” Peter Mackie acknowledges that the corporation does add to its rental

stock, but says the increases don’t match the rises in the numbers on the waiting list. “This branch has a projected net increase in housing stock in the financial year ended March 1988 of 114 units. In the financial year ended March 1987 we had a net increase of 120 units — it’s a net increase because the corporation also sells some houses.

“While the increase helps in part to alleviate the waiting list, it doesn’t solve the problem because of the significant numbers coming on to the waiting list.”