Residents express hopelessness as poverty-stricken homes in Ōtara sell for $ 1 million

By RNZ’s Jordan Bond

Now million dollar homes are being sold in one of Auckland’s lowest-income suburbs and a local politician says government failure is allowing the market to create more inequality and hopelessness.

Last month, a 1960s weatherboard house in a less than a quarter acre (1,011 square meter) section in Ōtara in south Auckland sold for $ 1.01 million.

Another, which sold for $ 340,000 12 years ago, sold for $ 1.1 million, more than triple its last selling price in October.

Manukau District Councilor Efeso Collins said more than 80 percent of the Pacific population did not own their own homes, and rising home prices were a cause of pain for his constituents as rents increased and income did not.

“That means there are times when some people have to do without,” Collins said.

“I know there are parents who are cutting back on the amount of meals they have to make sure their kids get enough to eat and get three basic meals a day. That’s part of what I call the social trauma faced by many constituencies that I work with. . “

He said that people were desperate about the situation, that they did not think it would improve.

“I think people have given up. There are many people in the Manukau Ward … who have just given up.

“I am really disappointed with what the government has done. I think the government has thrown money into a banking system that, in my opinion, is not working and that is not going to keep house prices low.”

The new highs in the local housing market served as a reminder to people in a low-income Auckland suburb that housing costs were eating up their paychecks.

“There are parents in Ōtara that I know leave without just to feed their babies,” said a woman in the center of Ōtara city, who did not want to be named.

“Sometimes you hear about parents not eating because their babies need to eat.”

Born and raised in Ōtara, and still living there, she thought the high cost of living fueled crime.

“It contributes to poverty in Ōtara. How expensive the houses are contributes to why there is such a high crime rate,” he said.

“There are loads of kids out here who are washing windows because their parents can only pay the rent. It is not their fault, they are committing a crime, but if they do it to put bread and milk on the table, who can? Blame them on they?”

Another woman, a shop owner, said she was a Labor voter, but the house was the government’s biggest failure.

“I’ve been living here for 35 years. I’d like to buy my own house, but I can’t afford it. It’s ridiculous, and I’m in my 60s now.” [years old]. “

She had had a paid job her entire adult life, and only kept her head above water, she said.

“They’re too greedy, landlords. Every year she raises our rent for us.

“For almost six months [haven’t] cut my hair. I don’t have money … 35 bucks for a haircut, I can’t pay. House prices must go down in New Zealand. “

A man from Ōtara said that Auckland was a city of rich and poor. Another, homeless at all, said that homelessness had wrecked him.

Economists and banks don’t expect house prices to stabilize anytime soon.

ANZ called housing unaffordability a “huge problem” in New Zealand, requiring “big, bold and urgent” action.

– RNZ