Housing

By Helen Watson White in Articles

comments on the Property Market and 'lifestyle'

Housing. Very much in the news where there have been floods, earthquakes, cyclones and storms. Disaster relief includes shelter along with food, water and and medicines; it is one of our basic human needs.
In the case of the Christchurch Rebuild, last week's Sunday Star- Times reports on research conducted by the Healthy Christchurch project of the CDHB, which revealed that the earthquakes dealt "a double blow, with anxiety caused by dealing with insurance, repairs and recovery agencies proving more debilitating than the earthquakes." Even two years on, says a Riccarton woman, some are still living in "terrible conditions". The government's emphasis on buildings, especially in the central city, makes many residents feel they are less important than the structures they live and work in -- if they have work.
Healthy Christchurch is therefore rolling out a positive mental health programme called All Right, to run for the next few years. One wonders if people can be reassured, when housing and related financial difficulties beset large swathes of the population, even without the earthquakes.
We're dealing with something much bigger here: the fact that houses are only part of that well-established institution, the Property Market. That market is only for people who have enough money to deal in property, just as the concept of "lifestyle" only applies to people who can afford to make choices about how stylishly they will live.
"Affordable" housing currently being offered in Auckland is well above the region's mean price, but two political parties have plans to make such housing more accessible across the board. Buying a house has never been more difficult for the majority of New Zealanders, so renting accommodation is the norm.
People who pay rent are reimbursing landlords for the capital they outlaid to buy a place, and the interest due on any loans. Most rental houses or flats are, however, "investment properties" -- bought to make money in the first place -- so the tenants are doing more than reimbursing the buyer, they are helping to make them rich, and assisting their entry to the "lifestyler" elite.
It's hardly ever put that way, because it sounds so bad; it has sounded even worse since Christchurch landlords have allegedly been inflating rents when insurance money is involved. It is quite normal in low- income areas that rents are set with the expected accommodation supplement in mind.
I recently re-visited the three-storey house where I lived with my first husband's family from 1968 to 1971, and found it converted to house as many students as possible. There was a flat for one or two in the basement, 3-4 double bedrooms on the ground floor, and 4 upstairs. Although there was what is daintily called a "kitchenette" serving the top two floors, there was no living-room at all!
A house, I'd have thought, was somewhere to live. But for those crammed into rented accommodation, paying by the room, there's no room for life, let alone lifestyle.