Trustees delighted by decision

Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust executive officer Julie Scott stands in front of two of...
Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust executive officer Julie Scott stands in front of two of the 27 properties trust contractors built within the Nerin Square development at Lake Hayes Estate and stands on vacant land earmarked for a cafe-bar business. Photo by James Beech.
A new framework for community housing organisations should provide the same tax-exempt status they benefited from under the Charities Commission and relieve concerned householders being helped into homes, the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust chairman says.

Chairman David Cole, of Dalefield, said yesterday he was ''very pleased'' with the decision which finally settled the housing trust's tax status, more than three years since it was struck from the charities register.

''Our notice of deregistration from the Charities Commission came out of the blue with no prior dialogue, so it's been a long process of responding to that notice with lengthy submissions and being unsuccessful with those submissions and then appealing to the High Court and discovering in 2011 that the Charities Act was never drafted with the consideration of community housing organisations in mind,'' Mr Cole said.

''There was a disconnect between our sector and the legislative framework that provided the tax-exemption status.''

The trust called on the Government to make the law consistently applied across community housing organisation and the new announcement was likely the culmination of work in Wellington, he said.

''Trustees are delighted to see common sense prevail on this issue,'' Mr Cole said.

Trust efforts to provide affordable housing in the Queenstown Lakes district continue, with the legal agreement with the Queenstown Lakes District Council finalised for the transfer of land on Suffolk St, Arrowtown, and the removal of existing cabins.

Working drawings needed to be confirmed before building consent was applied and construction tenders issued, Mr Cole said.

''We are progressing plans for the first stage of four houses along Suffolk St and we will be sharing those plans with the Arrowtown Planning Advisory Group because we want to make sure that while the houses are not in the historic zone, the plans fit in with residential environment.''

Mr Cole said Shotover Country was the most significant project the trust had ever undertaken, with 44 titles earmarked as affordable housing out of the planned 700-900 residences.

Trustees approved on Tuesday a demand analysis on the project based upon registered eligible households and

would be looking at the mix of family types and demographics. Some of the titles would be retained for the trust's ''rent saver'' scheme, Mr Cole said.

Land at Nerin Square, at the centre of Lake Hayes Estate, has been sold for a new cafe-bar commercial operation, which is expected to be built in February.

 

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