The Prime Minster's statement hits home just how out of touch he and his party are on rental housing issues,he says that they are a success and not a crisis.He would say that  he has been one of the three ministers responsible for the housing portfolio,its a mess,lets be honest its a real mess.

The present Government has to widen its scope to overcome the housing crisis that they have created.They should move over and leave it to a new incoming government,which will treat housing as a serious issue for the struggling families trying to find affordable decent rental accommodation.New Zealand had a reasonable housing stock at one time which supported families in trouble.But with the move to free market rents tenants have paid the price for failed policies,with more homelessness now than there has been in living memory.

Homelessness has become the new normal for an increasing number of tenants,unable to pay the  high rents being demanded by landlord's.This is an election year and housing will be at the top of the political agenda.Tenants have the power to change things  they are in the ascendancy,and their vote can change things in the housing area, so make sure you vote and make it count.

Prefabrication Holmes   February 28th.

In the housing arena,the Government has taken something that is simple and straight forward and made it complex and difficult.All Governments of late have failed to increase the number of state houses available to low income families.The number of state houses have disappeared, they represent 13% of the rental housing market,private landlords  control the other 87%of the market.

The disestablishment of the New Zealand Housing Commission,is one of the many reasons that governments have created the present housing crisis.The Commission produced good information and advice to the government of the day on what was needed for the future on housing ,Rodger Douglas thought other wise,and disestablished the Commission.

The shortage of affordable rental housing has brought back the idea of prefabrication homes,made in factories and erected on site.The Palmerston North Teachers College was once a transit camp with '' prefab housing '' tenants lived there while the government was building State Housing around the city.The image of ''prefabs'' has been stigmatized by the media,they are seen as clones of one another, the same could be said of private housing in more up market neighbourhoods.Yet there are a number of groups  who have produced interesting houses at low cost,but local councils and central government have shown little interest as  they only seem interested in home ownership,despite the fact that home ownership is not going to happen for the majority of New Zealanders.Renters are the future and will be for some time to come,it will take years to sort out of the mess we are in with affordable housing,we need a government with a commitment to public housing.

 

Property Managers

Here in New Zealand,property managers are not licensed and are not answerable to anyone.At present,anyone can start up a property management company,take letting fees and pick up rents without having to prove they know anything about what they are doing.There have been attempts to set professional standards for property managers over the years,but nothing has changed.

It is now time for change,as renters are in the ascendancy in New Zealand.The property management sector needs to set standards and ethics for their unregulated sector.In 2008 the Justice and Electoral select committee recommended "Immediate action should be taken to create an appropriate regulatory regime for property management actives."but the associate minister of justice  at the time ,Nathan Guy,said additional regulation wasn't justified.

It should be noted that property managers have keys to your home,collect rents every week and require tenants to consent to credit checks.This gives them the ability to trawl through a tenants history and other personal information.In fact property managers and private landlords maintain power and control over tenants and many operate a "blacklist" so that some tenants have difficult time seeking a reference.

This is not the case in Australia where property managers have to meet minimum qualification requirements.But in New Zealand property managers want to know everything about their tenants,yet tenants no nothing about the character of their property manager/landlord,It is not a big ask to know ,you are dealing with a reputable person, change is needed now to redress this imbalance.

January  24th 

                       The Manawatu Tenants Union,welcomes students back to Palmerston North and trusts you enjoy the city and its residents.

                     This is the time the rental housing market is set to kick off.The costs of finding a flat/house can be considerable,around $2,300 +just to move into an average three bed roomed house.Rental accommodation is the only option for most New Zealand families.Waiting lists continue to grow for affordable state housing and council housing.The cost to the taxpayer is soaring,through the accommodation supplement,paid to landlords.Rents have increased by 5.6% in the Manawatu in the last year,while incomes have not risen to meet the increased rents being demanded by landlords.

                        Now is a good time to look at how some of the costs being placed on tenants can be reduced.Landlords are running a business and should pay all the costs of running a business.Letting fees [ 1 weeks rent +GST ] should be banned ,as they are in the UK. This a cost that landlords should meet, not tenants,this would see more money being spent in the community.As house prices rise year by year,landlords have good reason to be grateful to their tenants as their rents  ultimately contribute to line the pockets of landlords.

                       Lets hope our government takes a page out of the book the Conservative government in the UK and assist renters and not just home owners.This change will happen,as there are more renters than home owners and the they are voters.

                                    

          

January 18th.2017

On housing issues the government has boosted demand but not supply,it is very hard to detect what the government thinks a good housing policy looks like.The National Party is seen as the party of home ownership,but it has failed to revive home ownership for New Zealanders.At the same time waiting lists for state housing and council housing continue to get longer,while the cost of the accommodation supplement is soaring along with private market rents.It should be noted that rents have risen by 5.6% in the last year while wages have not risen to meet the increased rents being demanded by landlords.

The National government under Jim Bolger was ideologically opposed to state/council housing and sold 13,500 state houses to private landlords at fire sale prices.It was a disaster,we are now reaping the price of that bad policy with the present housing crisis and the inequality it has produced.The Key/English administrations have just carried on with the 1990's policy which is seen as a failure.It is seen as the legacy of the Bolger/Key governments,one that increased homelessness and inequality in a country that once prided itself on being an egalitarian  society

It is an election year,so make sure you vote,so as your children and grandchildren have a better start in life than what you had,we owe them that. 

December 22nd.

News just in from Ireland,a country very similar to our own with a serious housing crisis.

Dublin City Council is paying hotels hostels and other emergency accommodation providers,around $2 million per week to shelter the increasing numbers of homeless tenants in the city.

The government has imposed a 4% rent cap on all rental accommodation in Dublin and Cork City to try get a grip on the increasing  problems associated with high rents.Rents have increased year by year and the outcome has seen homeless people living on the street and in cars and parks.

It should be noted that around 60%of the population of the Republic of Ireland live in Dublin,in New Zealand it is predicted that 60% of our population will live in the Auckland region,within the next decade

So central government should acknowledge that research,we have to build more state housing it is a simple fact of life,or homelessness will be the new normal for many tenants in New Zealand.Rural New Zealand is predicted to decline over this period,so there has to be a change in government thinking to try and avoid this from happening and invest in the regions.

Here in Palmerston North the City council is reviewing its housing policies with a view to increasing its rental portfolio, which is good news they are looking at building 30 units,when they can afford too.

The Manawatu Tenants Union,still gets inquiries about the upgrade of Papaioea Place which has fallen of the agenda after promising a rebuild of the units.Tenants have lost faith in the council.

December 19th.

                          I was gobsmacked to read the comments of ex-minister Michael Bassett in the Listner,who stated that the gaps between the have's and the have not's in New Zealand is "bunkum".This is right up there with climate denier's.The number of respected agencies from around the world have written report's on the increasing housing crisis affecting families,the main cause of poverty and inequality in New Zealand.

                      On housing matters many politicians in both local and central government,understand very little and retain almost nothing on the impact that their policies  have on the homeless and low income tenants.

                        The affordable housing crisis will define the 2017 election as state housing and affordable housing vanish before our eye's.New Zealanders need to make sure you vote and do what they can to change the housing policies that have created the broken society that is New Zealand today.