'Utter nonsense' to blame elderly housing vacancies on Covid - Age Concern

Age Concern says it is nonsense for Auckland Council to suggest dozens of its flats for the elderly have been vacant because of the pandemic.

The vacant flats make up more than a third of Auckland Council's 'Own-your-own' home scheme set up in the 1970s - where council buys back the flats when owners vacate, then on-sells to a new owner, all at a discounted rate.

Now council is selling its share, a decision that will affect 150 units.

In a statement, Auckland Council said many were vacated by owners moving out after Covid-19 arrived, and it stopped selling units last November when the scheme was suspended.

It said at that time 38 of the 60 vacant flats had been on the market for more than a year.

Age Concern Auckland's chief executive, Kevin Lamb, said there was an affordable housing crisis for the elderly and the pandemic was no excuse for leaving council flats vacant.

"I think that is utter nonsense. At Age Concern we work a great deal with older people who have no families, who are on their own and desperately need somewhere to live.

"There is absolutely no logic or no reasoning to suggest that these homes, had they been refurbished, had they been made available, would not have been filled very easily."

Lamb said Age Concern was approached each week by about 10 older people who need housing.

"I'm very disappointed, there is a real housing crisis across Auckland and it's acute for older people.

"There are many older people who need simple affordable homes they can live in.

"To see the council divesting themselves of the responsibility to support older people is very, very disappointing."

Auckland Council said the vacant units were marketed through the council website, along with posters in libraries, open days for those on a wait list and networked via Age Concern.

But Lamb said there had been no conversations between Age Concern and the council over the sale, or the vacant units.

"We could have filled those units many times over if we'd only had the opportunity to do so.

"We would certainly have been able to put many people through to the council ... sadly they didn't come to us and sadly we found out about the sell-off of these properties at the same time everybody else did."

The council has repurchased more units than it has sold in recent years and has run out of funds to refurbish them.

It agreed to sell its stake in the scheme earlier this year, and its finance arm, Eke Panuku, is overseeing the sale on behalf of the council.

Eke Panuku assets and delivery general manager Marian Webb said it was seeking "an appropriate socially minded organisation" for the council's share in the scheme.

Lamb said he would like to see any social housing organisation buying into the scheme make the units available to older people.

"We have the fear and the concern that a more general housing organisation will take on these and sadly older people rarely get to the top of the list of people needing homes.

"We would want to ensure that these homes that are there for older people are maintained and kept for older people."

The council joined the World Health Organisation Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities earlier this year, which provides a framework for cities to improve the well-being and quality of life of older people.

The framework includes a segment on housing, ensuring older people have a healthy, comfortable and secure home where they belong regardless of whether they rent or own a place.

Lamb said it smacked of one part of the council not taking any notice of what another part of the council was doing.

"Certainly selling off housing stock for older people or allowing it to remain vacant or not maintaining it is not under the spirit of the age-friendly plan which the council itself pushed for so hard."

A total 67 percent of people over 65 owned or partly owned their home at the time of the 2018 Census.