April 7th 2017.

Why did the government allow our social housing,to go so badly wrong and what are they doing to fix it?

To date 2500 state houses are empty and more than 500 have been vacant over the last year,there are 5000 families on the HNZ waiting list.Here in Palmerston North the number of homeless families and single people has increased along with the number of homeless people living in motel accommodation around the city.

 Housing New Zealand,along with Palmerston North City Council along with other housing providers have closed their doors as they don't have any accommodation to help those seeking rental accommodation.

Until the government makes serious changes to it's flawed housing policies,we will continue to see increasing homelessness people here in the city.Central government would seem to be only concerned about Auckland and has little time for the rest of the country.

Pre-Fab housing is one answer ,while construction starts on building more needed state houses which is urgently required  for the future of generations to come who will never be in the position to buy their first home.Th e housing crisis is real and growing,the government has to address this problem.Homelessness is just not acceptable in a 21st country which can do something to house its people,we are a rich country.

We have to cure the sickness of an economy run by the few for the few,that has left the many behind when it comes to finding affordable rental accommodation.One way of getting government to listen to the real issues affecting more and more people is to make sure you use your vote in the General Election later this year,your vote is a powerful weapon use it.

April 3rd. 2017

The Manawatu Tenants Union has been busy in the last number of weeks dealing with the number of homeless families,around the City of Palmerston North.

At the moment we are trying to keep a family in their state home,they were given a review of their circumstances,and were informed that they could and should get a house in the private sector.The family consists of the mother her daughter and son,plus their children[primary school children].I went with the mother to MSD to engage about a review of the review but were told that the purpose of the visit was to try to get onto the HNZ waiting,possibly 2/3 homes required for the family who wish to remain under the same roof.

The main problem is that HNZ along with PNCC have long waiting lists as do Manawatu Community Housing Trust and it must be said the private sector, motel accommodation is also being used to try to cover the shortage of affordable housing. The Manawatu Tenants Union is at a loss to try and understand why should a family be made homeless when there is a serious lack of affordable housing for them to move into.

We have written to the Prime Minister to keep him up with the play on the short comings of this policy which would be seen as reasonable if there were a number of affordable houses around,but the fact is there are none.I have contacted the Manawatu Standard to talk to the tenants on the very real posssibly of being put out onto the street,so far there has been no interest from the paper.

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.