By Laura Frykberg
Police were called to a Porirua City Council meeting tonight after angry residents of a council-owned flat refused to leave.
No arrests were made but they say they'll continue to fight against a council proposal to sell Moana Court to another service provider.
The 26 residents, all pensioners, say until they know whether their flats will be sold, their futures are up in the air.
“This process has been shameful, it has been cruel to the residents, and it is about to make them victims if it goes wrong,” says resident David Fletcher.
The Council has owned Moana Court since the seventies, but now it is considering selling, because it says it is no longer the best landlord for pensioners.
The Porirua City Council says the problem is the flats are old and need renovation, which it can't afford, so it's proposing selling it to a non-government organisation which can apply for funding to do fix them up.
But because it was bought under the Public Works Act, if sold it has to be offered to the original owners first, and resident fear that means they'll be forced out to make way for a commercial property.
“That's the anxiety that people here live with at the moment, that we could be evicted, that there is no way to stop that process if you're going to sell,” says resident Robert Overend.
But the mayor says the residents needn't be worried.
“That is not going to happen, and that has never been the intentions of this council, we are for protecting the rights of the individuals in those properties, we're just saying the Council might not be the best provider for that service any longer,” says Porirua City Council Mayor Nick Leggett.
A decision the Council will make in the next few months.
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