Community housing trusts ruling sought

Minister of Housing Phil Heatley intends to ask the newly formed independent Social Housing Unit to resolve the issue of community housing trusts and their charitable status.

Mr Heatley said the deregistration of the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust by the Charities Commission, upheld by the High Court in June, was "a test case".

"We recognise it's an issue for them and there's a good chance they won't be the only ones," Mr Heatley told the Otago Daily Times on Saturday.

The minister was in Queenstown to speak during the New Zealand Property Investors Federation conference, in the Rydges Lakeland Resort Hotel, which ended yesterday.

"We're going to be getting the Social Housing Unit to look at that whole matter of charitable status, or what the benefits of charitable status bring," Mr Heatley said. "Perhaps they can be delivered in another way.

"In the end, the Charities Commission is independent and registers groups independently, so I can't interfere in that process and haven't."

The housing trust's deregistration was the first to come to light and trustees did not want to fight it in court, he said.

"They'd rather we resolved it so I've undertaken to do that."

Mr Heatley said he wanted to do some research before commenting when asked his opinion on the Queenstown Lakes District Council's move on Tuesday to seek legal advice for its September meeting about the process and implications of withdrawing the "affordable" community housing plan change 24, at the urging of three prominent developers.

Mr Heatley said he understood Queenstown Lakes had a tourist population which needed to be serviced by residents who could not afford $400,000 or $500,000 houses.

Asked if the Ministry of Housing was going to smooth the path for residential subdivisions in the Wakatipu, given the need for more housing, Mr Heatley said it was a district council matter.