Community groups in Northcote, Clendon and Wiri face an uncertain future after the
government housing agency pulls the rug from under them, writes Rowena Orejana.
A sun-filled, three-bedroom house behind Housing New Zealand's office on Maplesden Rd functions as the community centre for the residents of Clendon.
The house has a toy library in one room with bags of wooden puzzles and other toys hanging on the wall. A tool library, where residents can borrow lawnmowers and such, is in the shed.
The house is the hub of the community. But Housing NZ is moving out of community development programmes, and residents are concerned they are going to lose the facility.
"Housing NZ has let us use this house as part of their community renewal programme," says Simeon Brown of the Clendon Residents Group.
"Their policies have changed. They are now less focused towards the community and more focused towards housing, which is their core business. Over the past year, they've become less and less involved in what we are doing. And now it's come to a situation where there's a possibility that we may not even have the house."
It's not just Clendon residents who are worrying about their community house. At the Rata Vine/Wiri area, the Rawiri Residents Association is facing the same problem.
Housing NZ is a major landlord in Clendon, Wiri and Northcote. It is reviewing projects nationally, focusing more on housing improvements and tenancy management than community renewal projects. Funding for these projects was terminated in June.
Tracey Moore, South Auckland regional manager, says it will maintain a strong presence. "The corporation will continue to deliver tenancy management services in these areas, but there will be no new funding for community development."
She says existing community houses will remain open for now, and tenancy management will continue to be based from them. "No final decisions have been made about whether the offices will remain open long-term."
The corporation will talk to the communities about alternative homes. "We no longer have staff based at the office to support this activity."
Manurewa Local Board says it will do what it can for the groups - short of buying the property. Deputy chair Angela Dalton believes other trusts might be able to do that.
The board will meet the housing agency to try to come up with an alternative arrangement.
Ms Dalton says residents' groups are very important to the community. "We're doing what we can to ensure that they are sustainable and we should be advocating for what they need," she says.
Mr Brown says what happens next is the big question. "We're not planting the garden because we're not too sure what's going to happen. We're looking into other arrangements," he says.
"We're hoping the board can work with Housing [NZ] and with us to essentially put the house in a trust to allow it to be managed by the community."
He envisages an alternative management scheme, "where the community manages the house through a trust so that the community can make this area a better place and we can continue with what we're doing".
Roomers
Housing NZ has approximately 31,000 houses in Auckland, about 45 per cent of the total state housing portfolio. It provides housing for 200,000 people. At any given time, there are around another 3900 households or some 8000 people who are priority applicants requiring state housing assistance. Aucklanders make up half of the total national waiting list.
Let down
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