This year marks 110 years since the very first renters’ organisation was founded in Wellington. In May 1916 (quoting from my PhD, where I list the references):
Meeting participants drew attention to “whole families being housed in one or two rooms”, and noted that “the sanitary arrangements of these high-rented ‘shacks’ were disgraceful”. They called for a Bill fixing rents at pre-war levels, and unanimously passed a motion that “to secure fair treatment for occupiers a Rentpayers’ Association should be formed”.
In July, the papers reported on the foundation of such a meeting in the Trades Hall:
The meeting discussed examples of high rents, the need for protecting tenants’ interests, and the attitude taken by a meeting of property owners the previous night. It was decided that “if necessary, a deputation should wait on the Prime Minister and bring under his notice data in possession of the association”.
This organisation, along with debates spurred by Labour Party Members’ Bills, and perhaps a feeling that high rents were “unpatriotic” during wartime (according to Gael Ferguson), led to the introduction of rent controls under the Fair Rents Act that same year. I’ve argued elsewhere that this act established a precedent for state involvement to protect renters’ interests.
99 years later, and a few blocks away, we founded Renters United. The motivations in 1916 and 2015 were similar: to advocate for renters facing challenges such as high rents and poor quality housing. In the years since, Renters United has had many wins, but many problems remain.
Recently, Renters United and Action Station gathered the voices of 3,310 people in a report: “They haven’t updated anything but the rent”: Aotearoa Renters’ Survey Report. The data they collected make it clear that not enough has changed in our rental market in the past 110 years. Here are some quotes from the report:
The property is in disrepair and we asked to negotiate the rent as the increase will take the total rent over $1000. The property manager refused and was quite hostile. We feel this is unfair as we have consistently paid rent for over 5 years, and the money we pay is not put back into the property unless there is an active leak.
I would like to be treated more respectfully by my landlord and I would like him to stop calling in without notice.
We are an elderly couple and prior to this current rental, we experienced 6 moves in 6 years. All due to landlords selling properties. This was really upsetting, and also has cost us an absolute fortune which has severely affected our retirement savings
I never feel like I can ‘settle’ into a home, exhausted at the thought of having to move again, holding onto packing boxes all the time… feeling like I can never become part of the local community and build bonds with neighbours etc, which adds to feelings of insecurity.
[If things were different] I would be in a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom house, so everyone wasn’t having to step over each other and I didn’t have to have 2 kids in the lounge.
I can’t use my wheelchair in the house when needed as it does not have space within the toilet or bathroom which has me crawling around a lot.
These stories, and the practical solutions that Renters United advocates for, make it clear that renters’ voices are as important in 2026 as they were in 1916.
PS To learn more about the history of renters’ organisations in Aotearoa, you can read a chapter I recently published in a new book (free to download), alongside histories of renter activism all over the world: L. Poy & H. Rolf (Eds.), Rent strikes: A history of collective tenant actions across the world (2025, UCL Press).
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