We are being heard Significant Changes to the CHA IMPACT Conference Programme Establishment Unit Announced The Social Housing Unit New tax-exempt status available for Community Housing Entities Community Law Manual to include social housing CHA’s membership is growing CHA training programme We are being heard Last week proved to be an eventful one that has carried the community housing sector forward! Highlights included: • Endorsement of the ‘A Way Forward for Stock Transfer’ paper tabled with the announcement of the Establishment Unit and an invitation to be part of the process of shaping policy. • Government passes bill establishing new tax exempt status for community housing entities. Significant Changes to the CHA IMPACT Conference Programme We have made significant changes to the conference programme cha-impact.co.nz/speakers/ so that we can make sure you have the opportunity to influence and be part of the conversation with government: • John Park, Director of Treasury appointed to head the new Establishment Unit has already confirmed his attendance for two sessions 20/20 Vision for Housing across the Continuum: What’s our Strategy? The Independent Transfers Unit- what is in store? His presence provides an ideal opportunity for us to have an early input into the consultation process and to articulate our views. • Steve Thompson, Tax Partner, Deloitte will be leading the session Charity or CHO?: The New Tax Rules Register now cha-impact.co.nz/welcome/ to be part of the conversation! Establishment Unit Announced Firstly, please join me in extending a warm welcome to John Park, Director, Treasury, who is tasked with the first stage of the reforms: creation of an Establishment Unit for social housing from June – December 2013. His appointment came soon after the announcement of the changes by Bill English and Nick Smith to their agreement in principle of the establishment of a new social housing entity beehive.govt.nz/release/government-grow-social-housing-sector The Establishment Unit (EU)will an interim one, staffed by officials from MBIE and Treasury, who will investigate and understand the range of policy options (and the implications of those options) to report back to Cabinet in December. The EU will be working with social housing stakeholders over the next 7 months whilst this policy work is completed. CHA will be very active in ensuring our voice and policy initiatives are integrated into this work. We see John’s participation in the CHA-IMPACT Conference as an indication of his willingness to actively seek our input and we encourage you to be there to be part of the conversation. cha-impact.co.nz The next stage will be the establishment of an independent transactions unit. This will be an independent entity (via a special purpose vehicle) that will look to implement the policy options selected by Cabinet following report back by the Establishment Unit’s in December 2014. This unit will be a neutral party that is designated the role of market developer in social housing. The final structural, governance and organisation form is still yet to be determined – this will form part of the work programme of the Establishment Unit. Note that Cabinet have only agreed to this unit in principle for now – final decisions on its creation will occur in December. In its press release, CHA was quick to welcome these announcements saying that the announcement will provide a much needed boost to the reforms. The announcement also shows that the government is listening to the sector’s views, with Dr. Smith specifically referring to the ‘A way forward for stock transfers’ report that was jointly prepared by the Network, CHA and Te Matapihi. Thank you to everyone who took part in the development of the report and its meetings! The work of the Establishment Unit will be closely linked with the considerations around the additional class(es) of registration under the social housing regulatory framework. Cabinet had previously directed MBIE to being consultation on these additional class(es) by the end of May 2014. This decision has now been rescinded, allowing the work and consultation on these regulations to happen later this year, alongside the Establishment Unit. The Social Housing Unit MBIE appreciates that the sector has been asking for some time about what will happen to the Social Housing Unit, given the implementation of the new environment in April 2014. We anticipate that a number of functions of the SHU will naturally fall within the new independent transactions unit. The Establishment Unit will look at this in more depth and will report back to Cabinet in December 2014, where final decisions will be made. In the interim, we expect that SHU will be able to work with the Establishment Unit to assist that policy work that will be undertaken over the remainder of 2014. New tax-exempt status available for Community Housing Entities On 29 May Government passed Taxation (Annual Rates, Employee Allowances, and Remedial Matters) Bill which would confirm a new form of tax exemption for community housing entities, who may no longer be deemed as charitable. This is the long-awaited solution to the decision by the Charities Commission in 2009 that ruled that helping people to buy their own home through shared ownership is outside the domain of a charity and subject to tax. We were quick to welcome the announcement saying, “A community housing organization should not face the loss of its tax exempt status simply because a family improves its situation.” Regulations still need to be set down to accompany the bill, through the order in council process. Community Law Manual to include social housing The July 2014 edition of the Community Law Manual will, for the first time, include information about social housing so that those working with clients can ‘work through problems and enforce their rights with HNZC and MSD’. The manual and its free online portal are produced by Community Law, an Aotearoa-wide provider of quality-assured free legal help, providing information about areas of law where there is a lot at stake (and no money for lawyers) including family law, Māori land, benefit rights, legal aid and the law about charities and community groups. Access the web portal here: communitylaw.org.nz/community-law-manual Read more about Community Law here: communitylaw.org.nz CHA’s membership is growing CHA extends a warm welcome to its latest members: • City Housing, Christchurch City Council ccc.govt.nz • Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust in Wellington pnbst.maori.nz/ • Recovery Solutions Property Trust in Auckland recoverysolutions.co.nz • Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga in Hastings ttoh.iwi.nz CHA training programme We will soon be sending a short survey to all our members asking for your input into the 2014-2015 tranining
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 06:47:29 +0000
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