4. What can councils do? Kay is a sociologist and director at CRESA, specialising in applied social research and evaluation in housing, public policy and community development.
Kay has undertaken extensive research into housing markets, housing demand, retirement villages, accessible housing, sustainable housing, the residential built environment and neighbourhood build environments. Kay is committed to and a successful provider of public good research. She has led a number of public good science funded programmes, including: Life When Renting: Enabling Older People's Independence in the Tenure Revolution; Finding the Best Fit: Housing, Downsizing, and Older People in a Changing Society; and the Architecture of Decision-making funded by the Building Better Homes Towns and Cities National Science Challenge. In 2018 Kay was made a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for Services to Older People's Research and Housing Research. She is currently appointed to the Ministerial Advisory Group on Housing and Urban Development and is a trustee for the Marlborough Sustainable Housing Trust. Previously she has been a council member for the Lifetime Design Foundation Council, a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Warm Homes and a member of the Office for Senior Citizens' Independent Advisory Group Reviewing the Positive Ageing Strategy.