Frequently Asked Questions
See more background information about the topics covered in the Long Term Plan.
Housing for Seniors
How did the Council receive the Panama land?
The Panama land on Ngaumutawa Road was originally owned by Arthur Powys Whatman, who died in 1938. In his will, Mr Whatman made a bequest of the land to the Wairarapa Hospital Board. The bequest was subject to very specific directions that the Panama land be held in trust, with Mr Whatman’s former dwelling to be used for a convalescent or rest home for the “sick, aged or needy”. His will specifically directed that “no part of my trust realty shall at any time be sold, let or leased”.
A home for elderly people was established on the land in 1958. It ran at substantial losses and, as a consequence, the Hospital Board invited applications from other organisations to take over the operation. The then Masterton Borough Council put forward a proposed scheme to transfer the Panama land to the Council for the provision of houses or villas for “old people”. In this respect, it preserved the wishes of Mr Whatman by continuing to use the land as a residence for the “aged or needy” with land not required for accommodation to be used for “general recreation”. The scheme was approved by the Supreme Court in June 1966.
What is public housing?
The Government has moved to use the term ‘public housing’ instead of ‘social housing’.
The definition of public housing in the NZ Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 is: Public houses are properties owned or leased by Housing New Zealand and Community Housing Providers that can be tenanted by people who are eligible for public housing. Public housing is therefore a general term covering both state and community housing.
The government provides subsidised rental housing through state-owned housing managed by Kāinga Ora (formerly Housing New Zealand) and through around 40 community housing providers (CHPs) throughout New Zealand. CHPs can include churches, iwi and housing trusts. Councils are not able to become CHPs. CHPs operating in Masterton include Emerge Aotearoa and Trust House. Public housing is allocated on the basis of need via the social housing register.
The Work and Income website provides information on Income Related Rent for people living in public housing. The website (March 2021) states:
When you live in public (social) housing, the amount of rent you pay is based on your income, and the income of people you live with. This is called ‘Income Related Rent’.
Income Related Rent means:
- you pay some of the rent
- the government pays some of the rent.
For more information see Work and Income.
Who are Masterton’s community housing providers?
Trust House Masterton became New Zealand’s first registered provider in 2014, enabling it to offer the government’s income-related rent subsidy to new tenants taken from the Ministry of Social Development’s Social Housing Register. Trust House owns 361 residential properties in Masterton.
The Salvation Army New Zealand Trust (the Salvation Army) is a registered Social Housing Provider in the Wellington region. The Salvation Army owns land and buildings adjacent to the Panama complex.
Emerge Aotearoa operates social housing across the Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch regions, including 20 transitional houses/units in Masterton.
Is it the Council’s role to provide public housing?
The Council has a role to play in supporting the wellbeing of our community. Housing is a basic need for health and wellbeing. The council has provided senior housing since at least the 1960s. Most councils around New Zealand provide senior housing, and many city councils also provide broader public housing.
How do people qualify for the Panama pensioner housing units?
Anyone who meets the eligibility criteria can, at their request, be put on council’s waitlist for a unit. Criteria include being aged at least 60, receiving a permanent benefit, and having assets not exceeding $25,000 (for a single person) or $35,000 (for a couple).
How many people are on the waitlist?
As at 22nd March 2021 there are 26 people on the council’s waitlist. Some of these people require more than bedsits, and 16 of those have indicated they would be happy to be located at Panama. There were 144 people listed on the public housing register in the Masterton district as at December 2020.
Who will be able to rent the new houses?
People who qualify for public housing should be able to apply to rent one of the new houses at Panama Village. Rental agreements for the new housing will be between the renter and the new housing provider.
What will the rent be for the new units?
We cannot know for sure. The actual rent will be aligned with market rents at the time the units become available.
How much subsidy will people who rent these houses get?
People who are eligible could access an Accommodation Supplement through Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ). The WINZ website (March 2021) states:
You may get an Accommodation Supplement if you:
- have accommodation costs
- are aged 16 years or more
- are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident
- normally live in New Zealand and intend to stay here
- are not paying rent for a social housing property. Social housing properties are provided by Kāinga Ora (used to be Housing New Zealand) and approved community housing providers.
It also depends on:
- how much you and your spouse or partner earn
- any money or assets you and your spouse or partner have.
How much you will get on the Accommodation Supplement will depend on:
- your income
- your assets
- your accommodation costs
- your family circumstances
- where you live.
If a Community Housing Provider (CHP) managed these houses, people who rent the houses could be eligible for an Income Related Rent subsidy. This means they pay some of the rent, and the government pays some of the rent. The rate of the subsidy ensures people pay no more than 25% of their income on rent.
What other housing does the Council own?
The Council owns 78 senior housing units in total, located across four sites – Panama, Bodmin flats, Truro flats and Laurent Place. The council also owns seven other houses associated with council assets that are managed as general rentals.
Why is the council only looking at public housing for elderly?
The land available at Panama was gifted to us and one of the requirements is that it is used for housing for the sick, aged or needy. The Council also has a history of providing pensioner/senior housing and existing units on the Panama site house senior members of our community.
What is the Council doing about housing for families or first home buyers?
We will continue to advocate for more affordable housing for our district, whether that is through central government or other housing providers.
How will the Council support others to build more affordable housing?
The Wairarapa Combined District Plan is currently being reviewed and we will be considering how that plan can best support our community’s needs. We will be consulting on proposed changes to the plan in the near future. We are also part of the Wellington Region and have been part of the development of the Wellington Regional Growth Framework, which addresses the need for housing across the entire region.
Water Resilience
What is Council doing about having enough water during dry periods?
Storage
The Council accepts that the effects of climate change are forecast to cause longer dry spells in the District. The Council has committed work in the 2021-31 Long Term Plan to increase water storage and create further resilience during those dry spells. This work includes:
- New water reservoir at Lansdowne
The Council plans to install a new treated-water reservoir in Lansdowne, with the work starting in 2021/22. This will give the supplied area greater water supply resilience.
- Additional raw water storage
In our 2021-31 Long-Term Plan, Council is planning additional raw water storage.
A provision has been made in our 10-year plan to increase raw water storage to provide around 40 days of storage for Masterton. The Council has tagged $7.4 million for this project, starting in 2023/24.
The Council has also signalled in our plan that we will consider alternative raw water storage options, such as the Wairarapa Water Ltd (WWL) project which is currently being managed as a private company and is in the resource consenting phase.
What is Council doing about using the water we already have efficiently?
Efficiency
Water is precious and we all need to do our part in using it efficiently. Masterton District Council believes that as custodians of the drinking water supply to the community we need to be championing efficient use of water and leading by example. Projects to use water efficiently in our 2021 LTP include:
- Water meters
The installation of urban water meters is now well underway in Masterton with approximately 80 per cent of meters installed. Water metering will allow all users to manage water more efficiently and identify leakage in our water network.
Current plans include charging for water use from 2022/23. This enables time to detect leaks in the system and on private property and remedy these problems.
- Public conservation media
The Council is also committed to the efficient use of water. New projects, ideas and initiatives that the Council is involved with or support will be communicated to the wider community to make water conservation part of our daily activities.
What have we done so far?
The Council has already undertaken work to fix leaks at the Recreation Centre.
Old and deteriorating water pipe is being replaced to address pipe leakage.
Public plantings are being changed to plants that are better adapted to a drier climate.
Are we able to recycle wastewater?
Water re-use
In the 2021-31 Long-Term Plan we have included water re-use projects. These include:
- exploring tapping into the existing wastewater system, and extracting and treating the water to re-use and irrigate plantings and trees
- Homebush water irrigation
As part of our Homebush Wastewater Strategy, we have objectives to re-use our treated wastewater for land irrigation.
We currently already border-strip irrigate 75 hectares of land and we are looking to increase this land irrigation through various other initiatives, including spray irrigation.
Why don’t all new houses have to have water storage?
The Council is exploring options that may require residential properties and businesses to adapt how they operate. Examples may include.
- water storage for all new properties
- more efficient water use cisterns
- low-flow showerheads
These options require a regulatory change and the Council is committed to exploring which options are best for Masterton District in the review of the Wairarapa Combined District Plan.
Civic Facility
What conversations have we had with our community so far?
Since the combined town hall and district building was closed in 2016, we’ve been talking with our community about what options we have to replace it. Below is a high level timeline of communication and consultation with our community to date:
DATE:
2016 We advised: We’re closing the town hall due to its earthquake prone status.
2017 We asked: Should we build new or strengthen? 65% of 220 survey respondents told us they preferred to build a new facility over strengthening the existing town hall building.
2018 As part of consultation on the 2018-21 Long-Term Plan (LTP), we proposed three key options:
- build a new facility (59 per cent supported this – cost $15.5M)
- strengthen the existing building (27 per cent support – cost $12-$15M)
- not replace the town hall (14 per cent support – cost $850,000).
As a result of this consultation, the Council decided to build a new performing arts and events centre. This Long-Term Plan also included up to $5 million for extending the library in 2020/21 and 2021/22. The 2020/21 Annual Plan put this expenditure on hold to consider other options, including whether the library should be included in the new multi-purpose facility.
2019 In the summer of 2019/20, over 1,050 people responded to a survey on what a Civic Facility should contain.
The facilities chosen as most important were:
- space for concerts
- meeting room facilities
- arts/cultural exhibition space
- a library
2020 The 2020/21 Annual Plan included a decision that a multi-purpose Civic Facility be built, with $250,000 budgeted for the year to pay for initial planning and design work. In August, the Council announced it was looking at a range of potential locations for a multi-purpose Civic Facility after fine-tuning objectives for the community asset. In December, after a tour of community facilities in the lower North Island, the Council voted to proceed with a Civic Facility that could include:
- a flexi-form black box theatre
- library and archives
- information hub (Council services; i-site; box office etc)
- pre-function come exhibition space
- suitable kitchen facilities to support the event space
- meeting rooms
The Council agreed that the preferred location be at the north end of town.
What are the objectives for the civic facility?
The objectives that Council confirmed for the civic facility are that it:
- Meets the needs of the Masterton community.
- Utilises green building design for efficiency and environmental benefit.
- Embraces our Māori culture and multi-cultural community.
- Multi-purpose.
- Well utilised for future generations.
- Financially sustainable and affordable for the community to use.
- Is well located and compliments the surrounding community facilities.
Why are we including the library and archive?
In our 2015-25 Long Term Plan we noted that the library was smaller than recommended for our population. In the 2018-28 Long Term Plan we consulted on a project to expand the library at its current site. Our current Archive is also too small, and the building where it is located does not belong to Council – we rent that space. The new civic facility presents an opportunity to bring the projects together, which will increase day-to-day utilisation of the civic facility, address library needs, enable cost savings overall, and allow us to address the current shortage of space in our archive and save money that we currently spend on rent.
Why not build on the current Town Hall site?
The time and effort we’ve put into the civic facility project so far has shown us that we can’t just replace the old town hall with a newer version. We need to think broader and longer term. The site of the current Town Hall might have been the best location in 1915, but it’s not anymore because it’s not well connected to our Town Centre and getting people safely across State Highway 2 (SH2) is a challenge, the site is limited in size which means that we aren’t able to build what we need for our future generations, and it doesn’t utilise some of the great things that make Masterton special like Queen Elizabeth Park and the Waipoua river.
Will Council partner with other funders on this?
We will pursue potential funding opportunities and partnership arrangements, just like we have for the skatepark and Hood Aerodrome developments, where we have been successful in our applications for central government funding support. There will also be philanthropic activities to help raise funds where the community and others will have the opportunity to contribute if they wish.
What will happen to the existing buildings?
What will happen to the old town hall?
We’ll decide what to do with the old Town Hall and municipal buildings in the future, once we’ve done some detailed planning around Masterton’s layout and identified land or buildings needed to support our future. We’re planning for the next 50 years, and we want to get it right.
The Town Hall and Municipal buildings were identified as earthquake-prone in 2016. You can see a copy of the structural report here. The earthquake-prone status has to be addressed by 26 February 2026, so we still have some time.
What will happen to the existing library building?
No decision has yet been made about that. Like the town hall site, we need to do some more planning about what buildings we need to support our future and how they can best be used.
What will happen to the existing archive building?
The Council does not own that building, but we would save the current cost of rent.
What will happen to the Queen Street site?
The Council does not own that building. If the staff who are located in that building now vacate the building (by either moving into the new facility or another Council owned site), we would save the cost of rent which is currently $170,000 per annum.
How will the new facility be used?
How well used will the civic facility be?
Incorporating the library, archive and some of our customer services team will increase the day-to-day use of the new civic facility. Our library averages over 500 visitors per day
Who will be able to use the new civic facility?
We want the new civic facility to be a space that everyone in our community can use and enjoy for a range of purposes – from accessing our library or Customer Service team, to attending a live performance or community meeting. One of the key objectives for the project is for it to be affordable for our community to use – and that’s a priority for us.
What do you mean by ‘flexible theatre space’?
This will be a venue that has a flat floor that can be used for multiple purposes, including theatre and other functions and events. The technical term for what we are planning is a ‘black box theatre’. A black box theatre is commonly described as a simple performance space that is usually a square or rectangle room with black walls, flexible seating and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space is used to create a flexible stage and audience interaction. It also enables the space to be used for other purposes when not being used as a theatre.
Will we save money on operating costs?
We expect there will be operating efficiencies by bringing together our Library, Archive and some front of house customer service staff in the one building. Currently, we pay rent for both our Queen Street customer services site and our Archive. We also pay for things like power and heating at each site.
What happens if we do nothing?
We will still need to deal with the issues that we are working to resolve through this project, including the library being too small for a community our size, needing to find another larger space to store our archives and not having a civic space where we can hold community events and gatherings. We would need to go ‘back to the drawing board’ regarding these issues.
The Long-Term Plan
An LTP is the council’s forward-looking “road map”, covering a ten-year period. It describes the services the council intends to provide for its community, capital projects to be undertaken, budgets, how everything is to be funded, and how the council’s performance in delivering its key services will be measured.
LTPs are a 10-year plan. This LTP will cover from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2031.
The LTP is refreshed every three years with an Annual Plan produced in a non-LTP year. The last LTP was adopted by Council in 2018.
What is the ‘consultation document’?
The consultation document sets out what the council plans to do in the coming 10 years. It outlines proposals for the major projects and changes to funding over the 10-year period and identifies options and costs being considered. It includes an overview of our financial and infrastructure strategies and an overview of planned major projects.
The Consultation Document focuses on Council's key proposals, seeking feedback from the community on these. There is also an opportunity for residents and ratepayers to put forward their ideas to the Council.
