Whangarei advisory group pushing for shared equity housing for elderly

Robin Lieffering is part of Positive Ageing Advisory Group to WDC that's proposing smaller housing units to be built for older adults on a shared equity basis. Photo / Tania Whyte

Smaller units for Whangārei senior citizens in partnership with their local council could become a reality if a proposal gets the green light.

An advisory group for older adults concerned about a lack of suitable housing is proposing smaller units be built on a shared equity basis with the Whangārei District Council.

Age Concern Whangārei and Grey Power in Whangārei support the proposal, saying there's a lack of suitable and affordable housing for pensioners in the district.

Former Whangārei District Councillor Robin Lieffering is part of a lobby group spearheading efforts for what she calls "a growing cohort" of pensioners who need to downsize to small units for a number of reasons, including reaching the age of 65 with a mortgage.

WDC currently has 164 units for pensioners and 23 applicants on the waiting list for a single-bedroom unit and a further 14 for two-bedroom abodes.

According to Stats New Zealand, an estimated 40,900 people over the age of 65 lived in Northland as at the end of 2021.

That constituted nearly 21 per cent of the region's estimated population of 197,900.

The number of people in that age group rose nearly 14 per cent in just three years — from 36,000 in 2018 to 40,900 at the end of last year.

Lieffering chairs the Positive Ageing Advisory Group to WDC and has spoken to the council on the need for housing for older people.

She said the council currently rents to older people with very few assets.

''There's another very growing demand for small units for people, for example, there's a large number of people reaching 65 with a mortgage."

Lieffering said the amount of people 65 and over with a mortgage will increase "enormously" because homebuyers are getting into their first house later in life.

"There are other reasons, where people who lose a partner and they still live in the family home and they can't afford to replace the roof or paint the house or whatever, and then there are those who are divorced."

The advisory group was pushing for a whole housing strategy to be developed.

"We hope the council would come in, in a shared equity way which means they would do the first investment and then these units will be built and people could share their expense and so forth, owning unit titles, having ownership shared with the council."

The other initiative Lieffering said her group would like to see in the District Plan was for 5 per cent of big developments to be reserved for multi-units.

Most pensioners when they downsized would like to do so in the community they've always lived in for obvious reasons, she said.

"The big advantage of living in Whangārei is you can live five months of the year outside.

''It's not a requirement now to build in on-site parking so that's a huge relief because you could put on 800 sq m four units.

"They might be like that, they might be staggered or in a row but whatever you do, there will be an area of private outdoor garden."

Jan Kini of Grey Power says there's definitely a need for more houses for pensioners ''because there's simply not enough''. Photo / Michael Cunningham

WDC strategic planner Hamish Sykes said the council's initial priority for older adult housing was to improve its long term delivery of pensioner housing through a partnership approach.

"We acknowledge the Positively Ageing Advisory Group are strong advocates for shared equity approaches and we'll continue these conversations through the implementation of the Housing Strategy, and the next review of council's pensioner housing policy."

Of the $4 million WDC has allocated to support pensioner housing in its current Long Term Plan, $1m is withheld awaiting completion of the Housing Strategy, which is being built with community-led input and a co-governance approach.

Age Concern Whangārei resident Beryl Wilkinson said housing on a shared equity basis, where senior citizens lived side-by-side with others, would be more suitable than stand-alone pensioner housing.

"We need accommodation for older people that's suitable and affordable. For some of our older people trying to live on a fixed income is leaving them in poverty.

"Some are just getting by and with migration, there's a real demand for such housing and we at the Age Concern are constantly asked to help find suitable accommodation," Wilkinson said.

President of the Grey Power in Whangārei Jan Kini likes the proposal but said discussions on how exactly would it work needed to be held first.

"It's something we at Grey Power will definitely be looking at giving our feedback on before any decision is made. There's definitely a need for more houses for pensioners because there's simply not enough," she said.