IHC's Accessible Properties in box seat for Tauranga social housing

Accessible Properties, a unit of the IHC New Zealand charitable trust supporting people with intellectual disabilities, has beaten out private sector bids to be the preferred provider to run a social housing portfolio involving 1,124 dwellings.

Ministers Bill English and Paula Bennett today announced the IHC subsidiary as the preferred provider with final negotiations expected to wrap up by October, they said in a statement. If the negotiations are successful, Accessible Properties will take over managing the properties in the first half of next year.

"The status quo - of one very large state-run provider - is not doing a good enough job supporting vulnerable people," English said. "It was encouraging to see so many community housing providers demonstrating they had the ability to provide tenancy and property management from a sound, sustainable financial base, as well as being able to offer iwi and wider community links."

Accessible Properties already manages more than 1,600 properties across the country, including 500 in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty area, and has the backing of the Tauranga Moana Iwi Entities, representing Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi Settlement Trust and Te Rūnanga o Ngai Te Rangi Iwi Trust and Ngāti Pukenga Iwi ki Tauranga Trust.

"A core consideration for us entering this transaction is to improve housing conditions and outcomes for tenants," general manager Andrew Wilson said in a separate statement. "We know what a difference good housing makes, and with the properties we already own we are proud to be able to make a difference and hear what it means for each tenant."

Accessible Properties was competing against Hapori Connect Tauranga, a consortium led by British social housing manager Pinnacle Group, and the HRL Morrison & Co-led Kainga Community Housing Partners.

In May, the government's planned tender for 348 state houses in Invercargill hit a speed bump when Dunedin-based charity Pact Group backed out as the sole bidder after deciding the deal wasn't the best way to achieve its goals. The Salvation Army, at one time also touted as a participant in the government's social housing policy experiment, has also withdrawn from the process.

(BusinessDesk)

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