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When Caroline * heard there was going to be a housing policy announcement, her hopes were high. This was the government’s opportunity to tackle an increasingly serious housing crisis that, in its view, the Labor Party was chosen to do.
But the package did not contain guarantees or help for tenants. “My heart sank,” he said.
Announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday, it included $ 3.8 billion to increase the number of new construction and an extension of the bright line test, which would make life harder for real estate speculators and provide more opportunities for home buyers. first home.
Ross Giblin / Stuff
Caroline is a tenant in Wellington and is disappointed that the Government housing package does not contain protections for tenants.
Caroline said it was “blatantly obvious that tenants weren’t a priority.”
The announcement came amid a spiraling housing crisis, with the median home price in the city of Wellington reaching $ 1.1 million and median weekly rent reaching $ 600, the first city to do so.
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National leader Judith Collins said Things the tenants would bear the cost of the changes.
“We have said every time Labor has raised costs for landlords that this will lead to higher rents, and every time the government has ignored it, and so have the banks.”
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the changes could result in an influx of new construction for the rental market, but the devil was in the details.
Things
The bright line test has doubled and tax loopholes have closed as the Labor government cracks down on property speculators.
The new policies would extend the five-year bright line test to 10 years, but would only apply to new investors, and new construction would maintain the five-year bright line test.
“That means if you want to be an investor, it makes a lot more sense to get a new place rather than an old place,” Eaqub said.
“The point of this is to build new houses, but to get more of those houses into the rental market. But it is about how politics is tilted to achieve it.
Supplied
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the wording of the new policies would make a difference for tenants. (File photo)
“It’s the old adage that the principles of politics may be fine, but the way the policy is written is very important,” he said.
Some owners can sell, but the houses can be bought by first-time home buyers, which could reduce competition in the rental market.
Wellington Renters United spokesman Ashok Jacob said that if there was one thing they had learned over the past three to five years, it was that “landlords will raise the rent, whenever they can, for no real reason.”
ROSA WOODS / Things
Wellington Renters United spokesman Ashok Jacob says if there’s one thing they’ve learned it’s that landlords will keep raising the rent. (File photo)
Policies were focused on the long term, with no foresight for the short term. “The people who have the most difficulties, in the short term, are the tenants.”
There should be a cap on rent increases, unless the owners had made significant improvements to the property, Jacob said.
Rent caps have been applied with success in other parts of the world. He pointed to the example of Berlin, where rents had been frozen for five years.
Manawatū Tenants Union spokesman Ben Schmidt said the package did nothing to help most tenants or families in emergency housing who needed a change now.
“They cannot afford to wait in the hope that these changes will somehow come to them over the next two years.”
The flat in Wellington was a minefield. Caroline’s flat was nice, but she asked about more than 70 places in her search late last year. “And I look pretty good on paper.” Still, it took a month to get a flat.
His room in a four-bedroom flat was costing him $ 238 a week for rent, and he had just learned that it was going to increase by another $ 8 for next year. And there was nothing I could do about it.
“I think it’s pretty scary,” he said. “There is such an imbalance of power between the tenant and the landlord.”
Ross Giblin / Stuff
Caroline now pays double the rent she paid in Dunedin.
“The tenants just put up with this situation, because there is nowhere else to go. We can’t just say ‘no, I’m going to walk away from this situation.’
Among his friends, there was a feeling of resignation because this was out of his control. The change had to come from the government.
Louis *, 20, said he felt the entire rental system was based on other people’s interests.
Students like him were easy victims for landlords. “It is very easy for us to be ignored or our interests are not valued so much.”
ROSA WOODS / Things
While first-time home buyers are accounted for by the government’s announcement, many renters can’t wait for the benefits of the changes to roll in. (File photo)
The rent was raised “for no reason other than greed.” Last year he paid $ 236 a week for a room in a downtown apartment building with windows that wouldn’t open.
Bonds from previous tenants were kept but not spent on repairs, and even though no work was done on the apartment, the total rent increased by $ 45, from $ 915 to $ 950, earlier this year. Louis moved out.
“It feels like there’s a pretty strong and clear power imbalance. I think I would like to see more services fighting for tenants and more education on how to access these services. “
Wellington City Councilwoman Rebecca Matthews said the power of tenants waned as the shortage worsened. “We need to do more to rebalance that.”
“I’m interested in the things we can do to control rent and improve tenant tenure. That is the key to rent: it is your home, and being away from home at any time is not a way of life. “
* Last names have been omitted to avoid internet searches and consequent discrimination against tenants who spoke to us.
