$15m allocated to fix Christchurch's social housing stock

Photo / APN

The Christchurch City Council has received another $15 million to fix its social housing stock from the Earthquake Commission.

It is the second interim payment the council has been given from the EQC in relation to the claim, following a $21.4m pay-out in April 2011.

"This is a very welcome payment and is $5 million more than we had earlier asked for," said the chair of the council's housing committee, councillor Glenn Livingstone.

About 97 per cent of the council's 2649 social housing units were damaged in the earthquakes and need to be repaired or replaced, he said.

"EQC is showing an ongoing commitment to social housing, and to those in our community who are tenants in those dwellings," Mr Livingstone said.

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"This payment now means we can keep our social housing repair programme underway until we reach a global settlement with EQC."

To date, 311 units have been repaired and 12 new units built.

With the extra $5m it received, the council aims to repair or replace an additional 280 units before the end of the year.

"In the meantime we are continuing our work with EQC to resolve our social housing claim on a global basis.

"A global settlement would avoid the costs involved in claiming for repairs on a unit-by-unit basis," said Mr Livingstone.