The team at Raglan Community House are deeply concerned about the rising cost of housing in Raglan and have set up a group to investigate the problem known as the Whaingaroa/Raglan Affordability (Housing) Project (WRAP).
To be able to get investment to build housing solutions, we need to get a clear understanding of what is happening in our community. No-one knows for sure how much stress our households are under because of housing.
We need every household to complete this survey even if you feel you are not affected, so we have a clear idea of the percentage of our community who are suffering.
Version 1 of the survey asked for full names and addresses to ensure no duplicate surveys could be entered. Due to feedback, we have changed those fields in this version to Street Name and Area Code fields only. Name and address details for version 1 will not entered into the data records. The only people who will see the survey forms will be the team at Waikato University who will enter and analyse the data. Only one person at the University will have access to the final data. The data will not be shared outside of the university with any other organisation. No individual will be able to be identified from the final report. Once the research is complete the original forms will be shredded.
Fill-in, cut out and drop off…
The WRAP steering group have some new ways this week for you to complete the housing survey if you haven’t already. The inserted survey from a couple of weeks ago proved a bit tricky for the company who does the inserting and folding of the Chronicle – it turns out that the papers wouldn’t fold automatically in their machine due to the insert, so someone had to hand fold the entire circulation for that week!
So printing directly into the paper was the next best way to go – fill it in and drop-off at any of the collection sites – Raglan Library, Raglan i-site (at the Museum), Raglan Community House, Rock-it Kitchen, 4 Square, Raglan Surf Co, The Herbal Dispensary, Whaingaroa Organic Kai (WOK), The Food Department Raglan West and The Shack.
There is also a new pdf version of the form that you can type directly into, save and email (address is on the form) or print and drop-off.
WRAP have a new Facebook page too, where were you can download the form and catch up on news about the project and housing issues, what other communities are doing and our next event – the Raglan Housing Forum on the 3rd of November at The Raglan Town Hall.
The forum is in the planning stages, but WRAP expect to be able to share the early results from the survey and other research that is underway. There will be speakers and lots of interesting information about housing and ideas on how to make your existing house more affordable to live in.
There’s a buzz going on about housing in town – lots of street conversations and lots of forms flowing into the collection boxes. If you haven’t already filled it in, do it now, the collection will close on the 22nd of September.
The most inspiring story of the week is the person who removed their property from AirBnB to place it back into the long term rental market after reading the Chronicle article about the family having to leave town because they couldn’t find a place to live – this is the power of sharing our stories.
