Homes for Good Trust aims to connect people with affordable housing solutions

Homes for Good Trust members David Fromont (left), Peter Ryan and Robin Gunston.

A new charitable trust has formed in Kāpiti to connect people in need with affordable rental homes.

The idea for the Homes for Good Trust started at a local church when Peter Ryan, Robin Gunston and David Fromont listened to a fellow parishioner talk about housing needs in the district.

The trust’s initial focus is an older person’s affordable housing project, especially for over 65s.

“We want to be agents of change by alerting people living here to the future issues of home occupancy costs, not only in financial terms, but also in terms of loneliness or the need to share with someone who could offer care as one ages,” Gunston said.

“We are also aware that central Kāpiti has a very high number of unoccupied holiday homes that lie unused for some 300 days per year.

“We want to explore with owners the various ways they can assist with this bedroom allocation issue for the benefit of both parties.

“We are also aware that in many larger properties there is spare land on which a small residence can be placed which could again benefit all parties involved.”

The trust would highlight the current housing issues, long-term consequences, and how changes could be made about how people lived, and the use of their properties, to benefit a growing number of people who were struggling.

“Experience elsewhere in New Zealand has seen people willing to reduce rents, in return for longer more sustainable renters who are well supported.

“Every client of Homes for Good will be supported in the changes that they make and the ongoing issues they may face.

“Another strategy is to partner with registered community housing providers who could build new affordable housing in this area, acting as the party to find the right occupiers and then supporting them in their new home.”

Gunston said there were a few examples needing a solution.

“The first is an older person living alone in a large house who wants to find someone to come and live with them for a modest rental, but has no idea how to go about this.

“Homes for Good will help broker this type of situation and support the ongoing relationship.

“Another is where there are two good friends, living very near each other, who are now realising that the costs of living alone are eating into their savings, especially after a 17% rate rise.

“Homes for Good has the use of industry-developed tools to take both these parties through their options in a structured way and help them make a plan which could involve one co-housing with the other, sharing costs, whilst the other’s house is rented to Homes for Good.”

Gunston said better use of housing stock could slow down the rate of needing to build more houses.

“That is good for all of us, it means less rates increases to build infrastructure, less anxiety especially amongst older people about where their care and companionship may come from, and by making the whole of our community far kinder in the long-term.”

He also noted a Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora report that said nine out of 10 hospital beds would be filled by someone 65 years and older by 2043.

“Our older people must therefore have safe, accessible, warm, secure places to live in, at an affordable cost, or down the road there will be very uncomfortable dilemmas for us to all face in our families.”

He said the project’s success would depend on whether people would “change their attitudes” to housing issues.

The first of the trust’s planned public meetings is at Kāpiti Impact Hub, Tongariro St, Paraparaumu, on Thursday November 14 from 7pm to 8.30pm.

More details on the trust’s website www.homesforgood.nz