29 February 2024

Media: Rotorua Daily Post

Topic: Pensioner housing

Enquiry

I am doing a story on how some elderly members of our community are struggling to get and afford rentals. I just have a couple of questions regarding elder housing the RLC provides.

How many elder housing flats, units etc does the RLC have for pensioners in the community?

How many are vacant and why?

What is the average rent?

How is demand for this type of housing?

Is there a waiting list and how many people are on it?

Response

From Rotorua Lakes Council Group Manager Corporate Services – Thomas Collè:

Rotorua Lakes Council currently has 152 pensioner units and currently 29 are empty. Four are freshly refurbished and we are working through the process to fill them while the remainder need refurbishment. Council has been progressively refurbishing units for several years, as contractor availability and budgets allow.

Our wait list is always full due to ongoing high demand and we cap it so people can find other alternatives rather than having to wait for up to two years for one to become free. The wait list is capped at 40. We currently have 37 people on the waiting list.