Sale of Napier City Council’s 377 homes back on the table

Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said raised rents weren't enough to keep up with the maintenance the houses required.

Napier’s 377 council-owned homes may yet be sold off - just two years after a decision to keep them was made.

Napier City Council released a statement on Wednesday saying it was “reopening the conversation” about its community housing portfolio as part of public consultation on its draft Three-Year Plan.

Two years ago, the same council proposed selling the portfolio but opted to keep ownership following protests and a wave of opposition.

Based on a Telfer Young market valuation as at 2020, the book value of the portfolio sits at $65 million.

The housing provides affordable accommodation with subsidised weekly rents based on income.

Eighty per cent of residents are retirees or people living with a disability, and the council first started providing the community housing over 50 years ago.

The council owns 377 community housing units in 12 villages. Of those, 304 are categorised as retirement housing and 73 as social housing.

Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said it was crucial to rethink the council’s approach to its housing.

“In 2022, we made the call to keep our full portfolio intact. We raised rents, but it’s not enough to keep up with maintenance,” Wise said. “This hasn’t been enough to maintain and operate the villages without putting additional costs onto the rest of the community.”

She said costs across the board have been impacted by cyclone recovery, and increases in labour, materials and insurances.

Current forecasts indicate a 2.6 per cent rates increase in Napier every year across the board just to maintain and operate the housing portfolio in its existing model, she said.

“We are now putting housing back on the table,” Wise says. “But whatever decision is made, we have key things that are most important to us, including making sure our current tenants have a home, focusing on retirement housing over social housing, and ensuring social housing is looked after by experts in that area.

“We do want to make sure there is as little financial pressure as possible on our community and on our tenants, and we want to be able to invest in our housing portfolio to make sure it’s fit for our tenants now and in the future.”

The public are being invited to share their views on the council’s housing portfolio from March 25 through sayitnapier.nz or via Taradale and Napier Libraries and the Customer Service Centre in Napier.