Partnership

Every successful affordable housing case study to date has one thing in common – partnership

Partnership brings with it a range of expertise and specialised skills, which are key to the fast-track development of affordable housing in Auckland.

In SHA developments of 15 or more dwellings, developers/landowners can work with Community Housing providers in two ways:

	Option 1 Relative Affordable	Option 2 Retained Affordable
Commitment Required (A full description of the requirements can be found here)	10% of dwellings must be affordable, i.e. sold at a price not exceeding 75% of the Auckland region median house price (published by the Real Estate Institute of NZ for the most recent full month of September). In March 2015, this price was $461,250.	5% of dwellings within the development must be affordable at a rent or mortgage repayment which does not exceed 30% of the Auckland median household income (published by Statistics NZ for the most recent June quarter). In March 2015, this price was $368,286.
Sold/rented to	First time buyers	Community Housing Providers
Can they be re-sold?	Yes – after three years, which means that the buyer can sell the property at a market rate. Therefore this option may not be retained as long term affordable housing in the Auckland market.	Only if the equity is retained – which means that even if a vacancy arises in a few years’ time, Community Housing Providers will always retain their equity in the affordable housing, and it will only be available for low income families in Auckland.

Option 1
Relative Affordable

Option 2
Retained Affordable

Commitment Required

(A full description of the requirements can be found here)

10% of dwellings must be affordable, i.e. sold at a price not exceeding 75% of the Auckland region median house price (published by the Real Estate Institute of NZ for the most recent full month of September).
In March 2015, this price was $461,250.

5% of dwellings within the development must be affordable at a rent or mortgage repayment which does not exceed 30% of the Auckland median household income (published by Statistics NZ for the most recent June quarter).
In March 2015, this price was $368,286.

Sold/rented to

First time buyers

Community Housing Providers

Can they be re-sold?

Yes – after three years, which means that the buyer can sell the property at a market rate. Therefore this option may not be retained as long term affordable housing in the Auckland market.

Only if the equity is retained – which means that even if a vacancy arises in a few years’ time, Community Housing Providers will always retain their equity in the affordable housing, and it will only be available for low income families in Auckland.

One of the benefits of partnering with a Community Housing Provider on Retained Affordable housing, is that they handle the following:

Confirm household eligibility
Ensure affordability compliance
Collect rent and manage government funding access
Follow up on arrears
Vacancy management
Asset management and repairs
Tenancy management
Fostering neighbourhood cohesion

Retained affordable housing is the preferred option from a CHP perspective, as it provides a unique opportunity to deliver affordable housing for low income households in a sustainable manner over the long term. It also fosters the development of truly mixed communities – including mixed tenure and mixed typologies – by developing partnerships between developers/land owners and Community Housing Providers. Read the case studies about how this is working in Auckland now.