Why Education is a Plausible Answer to NZ's Housing Crisis
- Daisy Pedersen
- May 18, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 28
Every one talks about NZ's "Housing Crisis" but it means different things to different people.
For the sake of this blog, the crisis I am discussing is the crisis of 24,000 people on the social housing waiting list. We basically have a homelessness issue. Stats NZ define homelessness as "a living situation where people with no other options to acquire safe and secure housing are: without shelter, in temporary accommodation, sharing accommodation with a household, or living in uninhabitable housing."
Did you know that just over half of that number today identify ethnically as Maori? That's 12,057 of NZ's indigenous people on the social housing waiting list of 24,081.
Isn't that ridiculous given that Maori only make up 17.4% of the NZ population? Yet, they are dominating the social housing waiting list. That's 1% of Maori that are on this list!
Also, see that the number of people on the social housing waiting list had only 7,890 people on it just 5 years ago. The number of people on this list have tripled in the last 5 years! Something is obviously going wrong!
For Pasifika, considering there are over 380,000 of us in NZ, this report shows that 0.9% of us are waiting on this list too!
All of these figures break my heart.
Not to mention, there are just over 76,000 public homes as of June 2022, and I would assume that most of these are already tenanted.
So where do we get 24,000 homes to house those on the waiting list?
A quick search on Trade Me Property shows that there are over 7,755 properties available for rent in NZ. That won't house everyone on the list, but it would definitely help get those numbers down - and there are always new properties up for rent every day.
We don't need to be so dependent on social housing. If you can house yourself and your family with knowing how to rent or how to secure a rental home, you or anyone waiting for a public house, won't need to be on that list. Ever. Again.
"But, Daisy, renting is so expensive". Yeah, I know that. But, WINZ can help out with that, right?
I think it's time to come away from depending so much on public houses, and coming into stability on our own! Especially, if you could be waiting for 5 years just to be... kind of forgotten about.
So, from my perspective, I see all these people waiting on housing lists, who could actually probably rent, but not know how to.
That's where I fit in! Even those who are struggling due to whatever circumstance can find a way to rent in this market, if they persist enough.
I have managed to help around 40 Maori and Pacific families secure a rental home purely through advice last year in 2022. But, that's people that I know of. I still encounter new people every now and then who thank me for my advice, my Tiktok videos, or my resources/E-guides who would have not been able to rent their current home without. (I am also still helping people this year as well, but have not kept count of it just yet.)
Even to my own surprise, I have been able to help advise people with bad credit or history and get them into rental homes as well!
This is all because I have the experience, knowledge and insight to help educate people who may not know anything about renting and turn them into successful tenants.
So if you or anyone you know is on this social housing waiting list, is serious about making the jump and getting into their next home, I am offering a lot of valuable advice on my website right now.
Three resources which I believe are the most helpful for those on the housing list are
"That Rental Plug's Guide to Renting in NZ", "That Rental Plug's Rental Curriculum Vitae (CV)", and "How to Navigate the Market with a "Disadvantage"". You can find these in my shop https://www.thatrentalplug.co.nz/shop.
"That Rental Plug's Guide" goes over all the basics of renting, how tenants are selected and all of my best tips!
"That Rental Plug's Rental Curriculum Vitae (CV)" helps people write their own rental CVs which a lot of new tenants are swearing by. A lot of people who I have helped say that the rental CV they provided in their applications is the thing that made them stand out from other applications!
These E-Guides are meant to give people like those on the social housing waiting list a serious advantage due to my insight as a property manager and someone who works with landlords for a living. So if that's you, please educate yourself, educate your family, educate your friends, educate your children and let's get you into your next home!
This is not about feeding you today, this is about feeding you and your family for life!
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