A smoking prohibition, medical assessments and an update on financial capabilities may be on the way for elderly Invercargill City Council tenants.
Last week, councillors received a copy of the Elderly Persons Housing Policy during an infrastructure committee meeting.
Strategy, policy and engagement manager Rhiannon Suter said the document set out a clear direction of council’s roles and responsibilities to its tenants.
She said council owned 21 housing complexes which provided 216 rental housing units for older people in Invercargill and Bluff.
"On average the council receives around 60 applications for an average 15 to 20 vacancies per year.
"At present the waitlist has 88 people on it, and the current wait time for a unit is around 18 months to two years."
She highlighted the document was drafted based on current practices and procedures, but there were some changes or amendments in it which might affect current and future tenants.
It included prohibiting new tenants smoking or vaping at the property; a requirement for applicants to inform the council if their financial circumstances changed; and the ability for the council to ask applicants or tenants to undertake a medical assessment to determine their level of independence.
Mr Sutter said if tenants no longer met the financial eligibility criteria, the council might choose to impose a market rent rather than the discounted rates. The medical assessment would be to ensure that people were in the right sort of accommodation for them.
Cr Ria Bond asked about the medical assessment part of the policy because if an existing tenant was deemed not able to live independently, she worried they would not be able to find a rest-home.
"They are not available for at least 20-plus days."
Council policy analyst Hannah Kennedy said they did not have the ability to kick the tenant out.
"Nobody will be forced out quickly — it is a conversation about facilitating those options [for them]."
The document also clarified some other points which Mrs Sutter said were already part of the policy.
Among them were a proposal that the general age requirement for applicants be raised to 65 and that all dogs be banned from housing units.
Councillors unanimously approved the recommendation and the policy is set to be adopted at the next council meeting.
