People who are ‘just managing’ in New Zealand are not heartless if they support policies that will help their family most in the short term. But there is a better, more positive way to ease their pain, writes Jess Berentson-Shaw. Yesterday I had a play with the Herald’s income inequality tool created by Max Rashbrooke, … Read more
Bryan Bruce’s documentary Who owns New Zealand now? – which screened on Three last night in primetime – is a deeply problematic sequel to Labour’s ‘Chinese-sounding names’ fiasco of 2015, writes Duncan Greive. “There’s been about a trillion dollars that has left China in the last year or so,” intones the voice-over ominously, over flowing strings … Read more
How does New Zealand get out of the housing hole it’s bought and sold itself into? Property and construction professional James Goodhue has a comprehensive plan. Decent housing is a basic human right. Affordable housing and balanced rental legislation are fundamental needs for an equitable society. Home ownership and secure housing tenure are important ingredients … Read more
When Natalie Robinson shared her journey to home ownership on The Spinoff earlier this year the responses included snark, unsolicited advice and shame. Now she says we need to keep talking about New Zealand’s housing crisis, but without the antagonism. Earlier this year, I noticed an article on The Spinoff, calling for people who were … Read more
For years little data existed on the mythical first home buyer and how much of the housing market they occupied, so CoreLogic NZ started tracking “buyer classification”. Nick Goodall, head of research at CoreLogic, says despite market and regulatory changes, first home buyers are holding on. New Zealand has a vivid image of the “first … Read more
Queenstown’s growth has rapidly inflated house prices and rent; incomes not so much. Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust executive officer Julie Scott says we need to start thinking differently about the Kiwi dream. It’s worrying to hear the government state there’s no housing crisis in New Zealand. The 460 households on our waiting list disagree. … Read more
Tired of clickbait and myth, Charles Anderson set out to find the real story behind New Zealand’s housing crisis, creating a major interactive documentary premiering on The Spinoff today, funded by New Zealand on Air. Perhaps we were masochists but we were under no illusions. When we set out to create a documentary about the … Read more
Everything conspires against affordable housing: the regulations, the cost of building and most of all the market. But all that can be fixed. AUT construction professor John Tookey explains how. Housing in New Zealand is in trouble in so many ways. Quality, cost and sustainability all have roles in the discourse. But the critical issue, … Read more
Buildings in Wellington that once housed almost 150 people have lain empty for five years, even as an intensifying housing crisis has rendered 40,000 Kiwis homeless – including hundreds of Wellingtonians. How did it happen? Marc Daalder explains. In 1959, as construction of The Terrace Flats in Wellington neared completion, the building’s architect died. His … Read more
If the government won’t do something about housing, then Queenstown mayor Jim Boult will – or at least, that’s the plan. Peter Newport finds out how he proposes to fix the town’s affordable housing crisis – now officially worse than Auckland’s – and why he’s calling on Wellington to loosen its iron grip on local … Read more
Sooner or later, most Auckland first home buyers ask themselves if all the misery is really worth it. For Paul Davies, the answer, in the end, was no. And then he got a call from Melbourne… Let’s cut to the chase. We all know it’s a beautiful country, but the flip side of New Zealand’s … Read more
Those who got a foot on Auckland’s property ladder in the nick of time have reaped the benefits since 2008. But has anything improved for the growing number of long-term renters? Kate Newton reports, as part of RNZ’s series Is this the Brighter Future?, which examines the government’s record since 2008. Gareth Shute remembers the … Read more
‘If you create the community, then great things will come from it.’ In Hawke’s Bay, a papa kāinga – or community housing development – is providing a blueprint for social housing provision in New Zealand. On a hilltop overlooking the long stretch of Waimarama beach in Hawke’s Bay is a cluster of new houses that … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today: Wayne Maclaine has been thinking about the housing crisis. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos. The Spinoff Auckland is sponsored by Heart of the City, the business association dedicated to the growth … Read more
Each winter, cold houses in New Zealand cause the death of almost 1600 people, and hundreds of thousands more have their health and wellbeing severely curtailed. It’s a national emergency, but the government agency tasked with addressing it has had its budget slashed to the bone. Cold comfort for freezing New Zealanders, writes Peter Newport. … Read more
Mainfreight founder Bruce Plested has used the company’s annual report to criticise the political response to the housing crisis, educational underachievement and the degradation of the environment. Here’s an edited version of what he wrote. Mainfreight’s 39th year saw a record profit, up 17% on the previous year. As is the way with business and … Read more
The issue isn’t just how many homes we’re building, it’s what kind. Erin Gough, a wheelchair user, makes a plea for more accessible housing. I live on the fourth floor of a five-storey apartment building in central Wellington. It’s not fully wheelchair accessible, but it’s the most manageable I’ve been able to find in my … Read more
New Zealand has some of the largest and most overpriced houses anywhere in the world. Motu Research affiliate Andrew Coleman looks at little-discussed tax change in 1989 which sowed the seeds for the current crisis. Everyone wants to talk about housing nowadays. Young people commiserate with their friends about rents and wonder how they’ll ever … Read more
What can we learn from the spate of reports about young people bucking the odds and purchasing property? Chris McDowall reads them all and crunches the numbers. Over the last few months I’ve taken to hate-reading the NZ Herald and Stuff articles about plucky young Kiwis buying their first home. Last week, while reading Russell Brown’s excellent … Read more
When you crunch the numbers on Auckland’s housing crisis, the result is clear: we’re still going backwards. So why aren’t we changing our approach? Leonie Freeman thinks she has a solution. Even before we dial up the numbers, it’s clear we are in an uncomfortable space. Changing policies, high level cluelessness, a demand-supply failure and … Read more
The first manifesto of the election has been declared and it doesn’t even belong to a political party. ‘Manifesto 2017: What the next New Zealand government should do’ is the work of think tank the New Zealand Initiative. Simon Wilson, worried as ever about Auckland, searches for some goodness within. They’ve got well organised minds … Read more
Last week Otago University tenancy researcher Dr Elinor Chisholm suggested nine things the government should be doing to improve conditions for tenants in New Zealand. We asked the Property Investors Federation to respond, and this is what they told us. While improving people’s living conditions is a great goal, sometimes what looks like an obvious … Read more
Spinoff editor Duncan Greive looks back at rent week, a pop-up campaign which laid bare the numerous and vicious problems with renting in New Zealand. We first mooted a Spinoff ‘rent week’ in late 2016. It was based on the idea that the stories of home ownership were being told constantly, but the challenges and … Read more
Rent week: a reader shares the story of her struggles to buy a house. She’s done everything you’re supposed to do as an aspirant home-owner – yet the banks won’t lend to her. Here she shares her story. I’m one of what I presume are many embittered twenty-somethings who feel like Stuff and NZHerald are … Read more
As many of the stories shared in Rent Week show, New Zealand private rental housing is too often cold, insecure and expensive. We can do a lot to fix these problems. Rental housing expert Dr Elinor Chisholm suggests nine things the government should be doing right now. 1. Make renting more secure We need to … Read more
Behind the affluent image of luxurious resorts and million dollar homes there is another, far darker side to life in Queenstown. Peter Newport investigates the shocking state of the town’s rental market and what it means for those caught up in it. Queenstown is now no place to live. Every ad for every rental property … Read more
There are many victims of the spiralling property market, but the worst by far are those children whose health is wrecked for life by substandard, overcrowded accommodation. In this Rent Week reissue, Dr George Laking explains why the housing crisis should come with a health warning. Warning: contains photos of doctors and gory things. We … Read more
Finding a safe, secure rental is hard for anyone of limited means in 2017. But the ugly truth is that it is often that much harder for Pasifika and Māori. Emmaline Matagi tells the stories of three such whānau, whose names have been changed to protect them against further discrimination. The Auckland housing crisis has so many … Read more
On Monday we asked for your renting stories, good and bad, and the response so far has been overwhelming. This is the second installment (read part one here), with more to come throughout Rent Week. I‘ve been back renting in Wellington for the past year. It’s a three bedroom downstairs flat, in a big old … Read more