A discussion about $4.6 million funding for elder housing in Katikati resulted in the Western Bay of Plenty mayor admonishing a councillor.

At a Western Bay of Plenty District Council meeting last week, councillors were presented with a report asking them to approve an application to the Government's Better Off Fund for $4.6m for the redevelopment of elder housing in Katikati and $700,000 for development planning to leverage housing on Māori land.

The council is entitled to $21.3 million in Better Off Funding, which can be used as councils see fit for projects that enhance community wellbeing, as part of the Three Waters Reform.

Council must apply for this round of the funding by September 30 and all but two councillors voted to proceed with the application.

Mayor Garry Webber's rebuke of councillor Margaret Murray-Benge arose during the public forum, where Ōmokoroa Residents and Ratepayers chairman Dr Bruce McCabe expressed his concerns about whether the elder housing project would be 'self-sustaining”.

He labelled the report 'totally deficient” and claimed it was 'inadequate for council to make an informed decision”.

Dr McCabe suggested council not receive it and defer decision making until there was 'adequate, technical information” and said he would refer the matter to Auditor General if it were approved.

Next to speak was Ōmokoroa resident Kathleen McCabe.

She said Dr McCabe had spoken to the 'quantitative assessment, the fact and figures” and she would talk about the 'qualitative assessment i.e why is this needed”.

She said she had spoken to 13 real estate agents and accepted that wasn't 'the best information”.

'I should really have market surveys and information from community housing providers,” said McCabe.

'What they have said is there is absolutely no gap in the elder housing market, because there's a thing called rest homes, where if one has no money, one can get a subsidy from the government.”

She claimed three Official Information Act (OIA) requests from Dr McCabe about the technical information hadn't been provided and said: 'they've been clearly dodged”.

Webber responded information had been provided in the form of a letter.

Dr McCabe interjected from the public gallery asking to clarify, but Webber told him his time for speaking was completed.

Murray-Benge asked Kathleen McCabe to elaborate on what Bruce McCabe was going to say.

Mayor Garry Webber. Photo: Alisha Evans/SunLive.

But, Webber said: "With all due respect, that is unacceptable, and for an experienced councillor such as yourself, you should know better."

Murray-Benge responded: "This is a public forum, and we're entitled to the information that is being presented to us."

Webber said the OIA response from the chief executive was "in your [Murray-Benge's] hands"

Next to speak in the public forum was chairman of the Waihi Beach Community board Ross Goudie, who said he supported Dr McCabe and requested the report be withdrawn and resubmitted at the last council meeting this Thursday.

Council community and strategic relationships manager Jodie Rickard, who prepared the report, said its purpose was to have elected members adopt the two key projects for the application.

Rickard confirmed the information in the report was 'sufficient” for the funding application.

She said there was 'significant work” needed once the application was approved and staff would provide progress reports to elected members throughout the process.

'Anything that we are doing will be within the scope of the agreed investment principles that the elected members adopted on June 14, 2022.”

At the June 14 Policy Committee Meeting, the councillors and mayor unanimously agreed to consider using the Better Off Funding to achieve housing outcomes for the district and adopted principles that guided council's role and investment to achieve those outcomes.

Deputy mayor John Scrimgeour asked Rickard what level of confidence she had that the application would be approved.

Rickard responded: 'I'm going say publicly, very confident.”

Webber referred to SmartGrowth commentary from the Housing Minister Megan Woods.

'Anything that gets houses on the ground in this area is looked [at] reasonably favourably.

'Any New Zealander that doesn't think there's a housing crisis, then they're not living in New Zealand.”

SmartGrowth is a partnership between WBOPDC, Tauranga City Council, tangata whenua and the government to provide strategic direction for the Western BOP's growth.

Murray-Benge said she could not support the recommendations and wanted the report received and for staff to come back with a 'proper business case” for the full council meeting.

Councillor James Denyer said he was supporting the resolution because 'housing is the single biggest thing to improve wellbeing”.

'This is about leveraging council resources and government grants, not ratepayers funding.”

Councillor Mark Dean said the elder housing was an "incredible opportunity". Photo: Alisha Evans/SunLive.

During right of reply councillor Mark Dean, who is not standing in this year's election, said: 'I'm in a unique position because I don't have to say things that [will] get me elected again”.

'I believe that this is an incredible opportunity. This is money that's given to us by the Government, and we're going to use it wisely because it's the moral and ethical thing to do.

'Elder citizens are not well off contrary to the misinformation that we've heard this morning,” he said.

'We have a requirement that the people who get into these houses have to have a very minimal asset base.”

He said the elder housing portfolio was in 'desperate need” of being updated and elected members had agreed on that.

According to Rickard's report, the two Katikati elder housing villages at Heron Crescent and Tui Place are more than 40 years old.

Also, Katikati is one of the ‘older' communities in the Western Bay with 25 per cent of the population aged 70-84 years and a further five per cent over 85.

The proposal is to build a new seven unit village on council land at Beach Road, to relocate current residents to under the same tenancy agreements.

Then redevelop the 11 units at Heron Crescent into 17 purpose-built units for older people, to be provided as affordable rentals. There are future plans to redevelop Tui Place once Heron Crescent is complete.

Nine councillors voted in support of proceeding with the application with, councillors Murray-Benge and Kevin Marsh against. Councillor Anne Henry was absent.

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