Labour Party

Address to Abbeyfield New Zealand AGM

26.07.2008

Speech notes for address

Thank you for the invitation to be here today. It is a pleasure to address your annual general meeting.

Can I begin by congratulating everyone involved in Abbeyfield New Zealand for the impressive contribution you have made to the lives of many older people.

In the space of 16 years, your organisation has established ten family-style homes for the elderly all over the country, and you have seven more housing projects at various stages of planning and development.

This would be a good tally for a fully staffed organisation, but for a not-for-profit organisation made up of committed volunteers it is indeed impressive, and a proud testament to the thousands of hours many of you have put in to raising funds, setting up houses, and supporting residents.

On behalf of the government, I say thank you. Our country would not be as strong as it is without the efforts of people like you.

I am pleased to see that Housing New Zealand, through the Housing Innovation Fund, has supported and assisted you along the way.
I know that in August 2002, a relationship protocol was signed between Housing New Zealand and Abbeyfield.

The protocol represented an agreement for you and Housing New Zealand to work together towards the shared goal of helping older New Zealanders find appropriate housing solutions.

It is a demonstration of your commitment, that to ensure the workability of this relationship, you formed Abbeyfield Partnerships Limited in 2003 to work with the Corporation on Housing Innovation Fund projects.
Since that time, just over $4 million has been granted or loaned from the Fund for a number of your innovative initiatives throughout the country.
This funding has supported the construction of Abbeyfield properties in Hamilton, Auckland, and in Takaka, in the lovely Golden Bay area. The most recent Abbeyfield to open, Rosalyn House in Palmerston North, also received a grant towards its construction.

Honourable Steve Maharey celebrated the opening of that house just last month with a number of you here today. He tells me that the committee for that house did an amazing job raising the majority of the funds required.

I congratulate you, and the other house committees throughout NZ, on your ability and passion in achieving such great results independent of the Housing Innovation Fund.

As you are probably aware, there is significantly more demand for the Fund, than funding available, so it is very heartening when organisations like yours demonstrate the capability and determination to respond when you recognise a need in the community based housing sector.

In the last year, the Abbeyfield Greymouth and Westport committees have received Feasibility Grants from the Fund, to assist local committees with some of the planning costs associated with such large developments.

The Corporation tells me that both committees have good fund raising strategies in place, and I wish you all the best on your upcoming building projects. I know you will get excellent support from the Abbeyfield family.
In addition to the support for local projects, over $160,000 in Development Grants from the Fund has been paid to Abbeyfield New Zealand and Abbeyfield Partnerships, to help you build the capacity and capability of your organisation, and to aid you in providing assistance to local affiliates.

I know a lot of training and development work by all affiliates has been embarked on over recent years, partly as a result of this support, and I congratulate Chris, who runs this organisation on a daily basis from Nelson, for the work that he has done and the success that the organisation has had.

Abbeyfield is one of 37 community housing providers and 18 local authorities who have accessed the Housing Innovation Fund. However, it would fair to say that Abbeyfield has been one of the most consistently successful of those applicants.

I hope this support has underscored to you that the government is serious in its recognition of your organisation, and its contribution.

As Abbeyfield is well aware, housing is critical to the social and economic wellbeing of New Zealanders.

The availability of affordable housing has been taken for granted in our society for a long time, but it cannot be any more.

As both the Prime Minister and I have signalled, Cabinet has embarked on a major programme of policy work designed to address a lack of affordable housing that threatens to become very severe in many of our communities.

Where the market does not adequately provide, the government is committed to working with community organisations, local government, iwi and other agencies to improve the delivery of housing for low and modest income families, young and old.

Our policy development work has been exploring ways we can make the most of the role different parts of the sector play.

Factors being considered are the role local government plays in the planning process, what Housing New Zealand is doing with the redevelopment of the state housing network, how to build on the relationships that exist with the not-for-profit sector, and how targeted assistance from the government best fits with all of this.

Some initiatives are already in place, such as the Shared Equity Pilot Scheme which launched on July 1.

Other initiatives are drawing closer, such as the Affordable Housing Bill, now percolating through the Parliamentary process.

And many other initiatives are still under discussion.
The size and scope of the Housing Innovation Fund, and the role it can play in boosting affordable housing provision is part of those discussions. Quite naturally, this is causing disquiet among organisations such as yours.

I'm aware Abbeyfield has made a submission to Housing New Zealand as part of the preliminary thinking in this policy work, and I thank you for it.

You have expressed concern about the future focus, size and direction of the Housing Innovation Fund, and made the point that your ability to expand and meet demand is constrained by a lack of capital funding. I recognise your concerns, and I am well aware that the Housing Innovation Fund is heavily over subscribed.
The government is aware that the achievement of a sustainable third sector is unlikely without some form of ongoing and coordinated government support.

However, the Housing Innovation Fund cannot be considered in isolation from the care and support services funding provided by agencies such as the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Health.
We have asked Housing New Zealand Corporation, the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Health to work together and report to Cabinet on future funding arrangements.

In the meantime, I can assure you that Housing Innovation Fund funding in 2008/2009 will be based on Housing New Zealand's existing funding criteria and prioritisation framework.

Let me say again, that providing ongoing support to social housing providers is a primary objective of the government. This government recognises the role of providers, such as Abbeyfield, in helping with housing assistance and affordability.

Please rest assured the government will continue its support of community-based organisations.

On that note, I would like to make myself available to answer your questions.Thank you.