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When charities can provide housing

When Charities can Provide Housing

Providing housing can be charitable, but it needs to be connected to a charitable purpose. What does this mean? Charitable purposes must have a public benefit and not just create private benefits for people who aren’t in need. Case law says that housing is a basic need and right, but home ownership itself is not.

Many amazing registered charities achieve their purposes, like relieving poverty or regenerating urban or rural areas, by providing a variety of housing options throughout Aotearoa.

You can check out: Sector-Showcase-Design-Island-Child-Charitable-Trust-2-1.pdf (charities.govt.nz) that provides transitional homes for whānau experiencing homelessness.

Charities can, and do, support people into housing in a huge range of ways – whether it’s emergency housing, cheaper rentals, or home ownership. However, not all groups that support people into homes qualify as a charity. Having a purpose to make it easier for people to own homes is not itself charitable. If your group intends to offer a home ownership programme, we recommend getting in touch before you apply and we can discuss whether your group might qualify for registration.

Source:  Charities Services website, accessed 21 June 2022. Charities Services | Myth busting: when charities can provide housing

Got questions? Please get in touch! Charities Services.

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Unfortunately, with details changing all the time and at such speed, we need to add that the above content is correct at the time of writing as far as the author is aware and is very much subject to change. We have, to the best of our ability, acknowledged any shared content. All related links provided to the corresponding websites are subject to change as they are live links.