Townhouses at Nelson Place Village, owned by Napier City Council, which will go up for sale. Photo / Paul Taylor
Townhouses at Nelson Place Village, owned by Napier City Council, which will go up for sale. Photo / Paul Taylor
Napier City Council has decided to sell 72 of its 377 homes to help cover a shortfall when it comes to maintaining its housing portfolio.
One impacted pensioner, who has lived in her council-owned home for 20 years, says the move has created a lot of uncertainty, including regarding whatwill happen to tenants in future.
The council owns 12 villages around the city and has opted to sell three of those villages close to the Napier CBD, including Carlyle Place Village (32 units), Wellesley Place Village (28 units) and Nelson Place Village (12 units).
Tenants in those homes are a mix of retirees and low-income earners.
The market value of the three villages is $21.8 million, according to a 2022 valuation.
The council says its affordable housing portfolio - which is mainly reserved for retirees - costs more to maintain than it generates in rental income, with a shortfall of about $2.5m per year, which is picked up by ratepayers.
Tenants currently pay between $210-346 per week.
“For some time, we have signalled that the current approach to how our community housing is funded is not sustainable,” council papers read.
Carlyle Place Village, where 32 units are set to be sold off. Photo / Gary Hamilton-Irvine
However, the council reviewed its ownership model again earlier this year, and a decision has since been made and adopted in the council’s Three-Year Plan (TYP) to sell 72 homes. Those homes are a mix of one, two and three-bedroom properties.
“The council has decided to divest the three multi-storey social housing villages - Nelson Place, Wellesley Place and Carlyle Place,” the TYP read.
“Funds from the sale of these villages will be ringfenced for reinvestment into the remaining housing portfolio.”
A council spokeswoman said ensuring impacted tenants had a home in future was a priority.
“This may not be the same home, but they will be offered a home.”
The spokeswoman did not say exactly when the three villages would hit the market, but confirmed the council was developing a “divestment approach” which would “happen in the next few months”.
Wellesley Place Village, where 28 homes are set to be sold. Photo / Gary Hamilton-Irvine
Wellesley Place Village resident and pensioner Calvin Ford said he and his wife, aged in their 70s, were not panicking and would wait to see what happened.
He said they would love to stay in their two-bedroom council flat, which was close to medical care and the city, and was affordable.
Ford said one thing that irked him was there were a handful of empty units at the village, which the council had spent a lot of time fixing up without getting in new tenants to help cover the shortfall.
“They could be getting $300 per week for these empty units.”
A Carlyle Place Village resident and pensioner, who did not want to be named, said it would be extremely difficult to pay market rent prices if she was forced to leave.
“At the end of the day, there is a housing shortage and a lot of people without homes, and I could be one of them in the near-future - it depends on how fast they sell them,” she said of her home of 20 years.
“I’m picking they will probably sell them to a developer who will rip them all down. It is prime real estate. It is right in the heart of the city.”
If a new owner opts to keep the units, she said “there was no way” they would keep the rents low, and she was doubtful everyone would be offered a place in another council village.
The council wants to ensure all tenants are over 60 in its remaining villages. It will also consider transferring control of its remaining housing to an external provider, while keeping ownership.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
