‘Applying for a home felt harder than applying for a job’: NZ private rentals won’t solve need for emergency housing
Established in 2016, the emergency housing programme – short-term housing for people with nowhere to stay – was meant to be a stop-gap measure.
- Established in 2016, the emergency housing programme – short-term housing for people with nowhere to stay – was meant to be a stop-gap measure.
- People seeking access to emergency housing will need to prove they have made “a reasonable effort” to secure a home in the private rental sector.
- Our research on the factors that shape people’s housing outcomes, experiences and journeys shows the private rental sector can often exacerbate housing precarity.
Housing discrimination is widespread
- Our survey of 800 residents across seven neighbourhoods in Auckland, Hamilton and Christchurch revealed experiences of housing discrimination are widespread in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- Nearly half of all renters reported directly experiencing discrimination when trying to rent a home.
- Read more:
As NZ struggles to resolve its long-running housing crisis, investors should be taxed for keeping homes emptyWhen asked for examples to illustrate their experiences of discrimination, renters and owners alike provided stories of struggling to secure private rental housing at some point in their lives.
The instability of renting
- This situation is made worse by the instability of rental housing.
- Our survey results show a mere 12% of private rental tenants have lived in only one home over the past ten years.
- This stands in stark contrast to 47% of owner-occupiers but also 39% of public housing tenants.
- It takes time and effort to secure a home, especially one that is affordable and suitable for a household’s needs.
Private rental sector is not a solution
- Recent research in Aotearoa and the United Kingdom has shown private renting adversely affects renters’ health and wellbeing.
- Moreover, a Western Australian initiative to require public housing applicants to prove they had tried to get a private rental was dismantled following a 2004 inquiry.
- Responding to the emergency housing crisis with greater reliance on the private rental sector amounts to fighting fire with fire.
Jessica Terruhn receives funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for the WERO research programme. She is affiliated with Renters United. Francis L Collins receives funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. He has previously received other funding from Te Apārangi Royal Society of New Zealand.