So the question I have for you today is should council’s be involved in social housing.

This is because of two stories.

There is unrest in Christchurch as the council looks to it’s future projects. There are some complaining that the council is more likely to start work on a stadium rather than rebuilding the social housing stock it owns that was destroyed in the quakes.

Opponents of the stadium build call it a white elephant while they say the social housing is a good thing for disadvantaged citizens. So what does deserve the higher priority.

The stadium is a nice to have but is social housing a must have? Is it really the council’s responsibility when there’s already a central government department dedicated to the provision of affordable housing.

A similar story is playing out in Wellington on a number of fronts. Last year the council's Strategic Housing Investment Plan (Ship) promised to deliver 750 new social and affordable housing units over the next 10 years. It’s not happening yet and on Tuesday councillors asked when they would see construction start.

Again is it the council’s responsibility? Add to that the fact that the Wellington Council is already the largest holder of social housing out of any council in the country and you wonder whether all this investment is the proper use of ratepayer’s money.

Wellington has another problem to address as occupants of the council’s social housing are not eligible for the governments accommodation supplement. There are councillors advocating for a change to that law which the government has agreed to but they’ve said it won’t happen til the next term, if there is one.

That is a lot of people struggling. Only a third of the council’s social housing stock is classified as affordable so there’s people in council social housing that they simply can’t afford and you have to ask if that isn’t a waste of money in bricks and mortar which if it was in the hands of others could then receive the accommodation supplement.

And surely the fact that the council social housing is not eligible for the supplement is a sign that social housing is really the responsibility of the central government and not not local government.

There’s a large number of ratepayers already uptight that councils over extend their reach. They’d rather they concentrated on roads, rubbish, consents and water and not some nice-to-have, feel good items that are doubling down on what we’re already paying for with our taxes.

I think it is time for a rethink on council’s that have stuck their toes into housing. It seems to be a spending pressure too far.