Elinor Chisholm

Researchers help make some homes less damp

It’s awful to live in a damp home. We know it from experience, or from stories, like the one told by Kayla at the Wellington Renters United launch: of multi-coloured mould, of asthma, of a damp bed, of the loss of home as a sanctuary, of a dehumidifier covered in mould, of “a spacer prescribed…More

“Rich folk know how to not pay taxes”: An interview with Shamubeel Eaqub (Part 2)

This is the second part of a two-part interview with Shamubeel Eaqub, author, along with Selena Eaqub, of the book Generation Rent: Rethinking New Zealand’s Priorities. The interview took place on 9 November. In the first post, I asked Shamubeel about security, quality and cost in the private rental sector. In today’s post, he discusses…More

“We need to focus on the wins we can sustain”: An interview with Shamubeel Eaqub (Part 1)

Generation Rent: Rethinking New Zealand’s Priorities, by Shamubeel Eaqub and Selena Eaqub, has received a great deal of attention since it was released six months ago, and quite rightly. It’s an accessible, wide-ranging and thought-provoking read in which the authors discuss housing unaffordability, its importance, its causes, and its solutions. These range from the “palliative” –…More

Single ladies and the housing market

In the important new book, No country for old maids? Talking about the ‘man drought‘, one of the issues author Hannah August puts her brilliant mind to is the disadvantages faced by single women in obtaining housing. She discusses “singlism”, a word coined by American social psychologist Bella DePaulo to describe discrimination against single people.…More

“You shouldn’t have to become an MP to get a house to live in”

Today, New Zealand’s newest MP, Green Marama Davidson, gave her maiden speech in Parliament. It’s a remarkable speech in many ways, but this is a blog about housing, so I wanted to draw attention to the bit where she talks about the search for a rental home prior to and after becoming an MP (MPs based…More

Would a statutory right to housing make a difference to homelessness?

Thirty-four thousand people in New Zealand are homeless, or severely housing deprived: they crowd in to friends’ homes, stay in campgrounds, boarding houses, garages or cars, and live on the street.1[i] The Child Poverty Action Group is currently calling for the government to address homeless through instituting “a statutory right to be housed”. This is…More

Government-commissioned report makes a strong case for a rental WOF

This is a repost from the CPAG blog. A rental housing warrant of fitness (WOF) sets out a list of fundamental features of a safe and healthy house. If a house fails any component of the WOF, it’s not fit for people to live in. There is a lot of public support for a WOF because…More

Why protection from retaliatory eviction fails to ensure tenants report unhealthy housing

Last week, I wrote about how England’s tenants will soon be protected from retaliatory eviction. This means that if tenants complain about substandard conditions and the landlord responds by evicting them, they will have the right to appeal their eviction. This is important not just to protect tenants but also to encourage them to report…More

England’s new regulations to protect tenants from retaliatory evictions

Tenant organisations in England are celebrating new regulations which give renters new protection – protection which New Zealand renters already have, and which has recently been extended. It’s a good time to reflect on that protection and its limitations. Private tenants have the right to live in homes that meet certain standards. If tenants’ houses are…More

Minor changes to existing provisions!

Something crazy happens at the moment. A tenant takes her landlord to the Tenancy Tribunal because it’s below legal standards: it’s damp, for example. The Tenancy Tribunal concludes, “yes, that’s illegal”. The Tribunal can order the landlord to bring the property up to standard. But the landlord can decline to do so. In that case,…More