Topics covered:

• Revenue Share for Housing—a new policy proposal

• Cooperative Living event on 24 Nov at Riverside Community—register now

• How I can help your group/organisation/project

• Homefullness Show—looking for a co-producer and more guests!

If you're frustrated by the amount of rates that you pay and the rates increases that many councils are doing, you are not alone.  Many people complain, “councils, all they care about is money.” And yet, they have increasing expenses & responsibilities to pay for with less income--a gap that's been widening over decades. The amount of income that they're able to generate through rates is not covering all the things they're responsible for. So, what is the solution?

Well, we've got Nick Clark, with the NZ Initiative, on the Homefullness Show to explain to us how the new policy he's proposing called Revenue Share for Housing could work.  He says it could clear most council debt and create new income streams for local councils. The benefit is that there'll be more money to be able to support new housing construction and the infrastructure needed for that and rates hopefully won't continue to increase.

So how does this work? Well, we're going to explain about it in this episode, but the basics are that:  A portion of the GST that's collected by central government from local councils on new builds would be given back to the councils.

This is really a game changer, so listen in to hear about this policy that could increase the amount of income your counsel is able to generate to create new housing in your area and that might even stabilize the rates.

Click on the image below to go to the Podbean episode. Or, find it on your favourite podcast app (like Apple or Spotify). I welcome your feedback on the episode which you can post on the Common Ground FB page.

I need 20 participants to run this event. As of today there are only 10 people registered. I will need to postpone if I don’t get enough registrations. Please share the event—see link below.

Cooperative Living event on 24 November Top of the South, 4-6pm @Riverside Community Hall

Whether you wish to explore landshare/purchase options with others, join a forming intentional community, start your own housing initiative, find land for your tiny home, or just curious about the many models of cooperative and collaborative housing models, you won't want to miss this event.  You'll learn what works for successful housing and community projects and get a chance to meet and network with others who share these interests.

With the challenges of affordability to own or purchase on your own and building and planning regulations which can be confusing, joining together with others for living, working, sharing, and advocating is much more effective and supportive.

Please share the FB event to get more people to know about the event: https://www.facebook.com/share/NN6K9NVmvNC56Y46/

How I can help you:

Council and provider housing strategy for affordable and regenerative housing

Check out my page of services here.

Land-share/housing mentorship & facilitation

Are you looking to share land or create a housing project with others? 

I offer mentorship and facilitation of group visioning online or in person. 

Compassionate Communication: Increasing Cooperation and Reducing Conflict for Teams and Workplaces

I offer workshops for teams, groups, and organisations in communication techniques that increase cooperation and that reduce conflict and that help to work through conflict in supportive and productive ways.

Homefullness Show: Change-making conversations on housing for people and planet

The show's purpose is to enable, inspire, and facilitate the creation of affordable places to live that are socially and ecologically connected, and co-designed with the people who live there.

I’m looking for…

A co-producer to work with me to create an even better produced show with more regular episodes and fantastically inspiring stories. You will:

• be inspired by the show’s mission

• enjoy finding interesting people to share their story as a guest on the show and assisting with interviews,

• have some skills in or willing to learn podcast production, marketing & publicity, community engagement, securing sponsorships.

Guests to be interviewed on the show:

Topics could include: housing affordability, innovative policies, community-led and collective housing models, interesting building methods, place-making strategies, legal and financial models, real life stories of living in alternative housing, etc.