Report finds Bay housing and jobs a worry

Acorn Foundation general manager Nicky Wilkins, left, and chairman Glenn Keaney released the report today.

Housing and jobs have emerged as the biggest public concerns in a ground-breaking research project to assess how well Tauranga was delivering on key social responsibilities.

The grassroots initiative to improve the fabric of life in Tauranga and the Western Bay was unveiled today by community funder, the Acorn Foundation.

"The findings will be pivotal in assessing areas of greatest need and ensuring funding matched this," foundation general manager Nicky Wilkins said.

The report saw the Bay scrape through with pass marks of average to good across 12 categories that included health, education, and whether people felt a sense of belonging.

People were most dissatisfied with the gap between the rich and poor and housing, but were happiest with sport and recreation, the economy, environment and arts and culture.

Asked what they saw as the main issue facing the Western Bay, a third of the 1546 people who took part in the survey named affordable housing and housing availability, and a shortage of job opportunities.

The findings will be used by Acorn Foundation and other community funders like TECT and BayTrust to ensure that grant money was spent in the right places. It was the first time that the Canadian-based Vital Signs system to measure the vitality of a region had been tried in New Zealand.

"Vital Signs leads to vital grants to make vital changes," Mrs Wilkins said.

There were no big surprises in the report but it gave funders statistics to back their gut feelings and prioritise where money should be spent, she said.

Mrs Wilkins was thrilled at the clarity of the report written by a senior lecturer from Waikato University who pulled together the survey and research into a comprehensive community document.

The report was pitched at ease of understanding and included interesting snippets, such as that one in eight workers in the Western Bay were employed in the health sector.

The survey would be repeated every two or three years to measure how the Bay was addressing the issues that mattered most.

Acorn Foundation chairman Glenn Keaney said it was essential that they had solid evidence to back up decision making.

"Vital Signs will be key to this."

Letters were sent to 30,000 people inviting them to take part in the survey. Fifteen per cent of respondents were aged 18 to 35; 38 per cent 36 to 55; and 39 per cent 56 to 75.

Acorn Foundation asks people to leave money in their wills. Investments had reached $12 million since Acorn began 11 years ago, generating about $500,000 of grants to community groups this year.

The Vital Signs report can viewed on Acorn Foundation's website www.acornfoundation.org.nz