Progressive thinking

perspectives ten on housing Published August 2017 Edited by Sarah Austen-Smith and Sarah Martin Design and layout by Dan Phillips Printed by Pivotal Thames This resource is also available online at www.psa.org.nz/housingbooklet New Zealand Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi PSA House, 11 Aurora Terrace, PO Box 3817, Wellington. Phone 0508 367 772 Email [email protected] www.psa.org.nz ISBN 978-0-908798-11-7 Authorised by Erin Polaczuk, Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi, 11 Aurora Terrace, Wellington, New Zealand. Contents

3 Foreword

7 Housing and health 29 Luck and love: Philippa Howden-Chapman housing and disability 11 Affordability – Where next? Dr Esther Woodbury John Tookey 32 No country for young 15 Innovating our way men or women out of New Zealand’s Dr Andrew Coleman housing disaster 36 The forgotten 50% Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw Robert Whitaker

24 Case study: Māori housing movements Jade Kake, edited by Victoria Crockford

18 The soft privatisation 39 Local government of state housing and the housing crisis Alan Johnson Shamubeel Eaqub 21 Beyond the quarter 43 The human right acre section: to adequate housing Bill McKay David Rutherford

42 Author bios

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 2 Foreword

At certain times over the course of New a proud history of advocating for high Zealand’s history, it has become clear quality public services that contribute that a fundamental shift in thinking to the health and wellbeing of our is needed. We believe that such a shift communities. is now required in the way we as a country house our people. We’re doing this because our members have told us that housing Housing is a human right but it is is a priority concern in election year, so much more than that: a home and because they – and their families is a sanctuary, a safe place, a place and communities – are amongst for children to grow, a space for us those bearing the brunt of the current to grow old in. A safe, secure and housing crisis. Many of our members affordable home enables us to learn, to also work in housing-related public participate and to work – these are all and community services, – their markers of a decent society and should voices and experiences deserve to be be something that all of us can access, represented and heard. not just a lucky few. The genesis of this publication was Over the last few years we have heard a survey of our Auckland members an ever-growing body of evidence that that we conducted in March of this Erin Polaczuk the current government’s approach to year, which sought to understand and housing is failing. Its manifest in the the impact of the housing crisis on Glenn Barclay growing numbers of homeless – now their lives. The response to the survey was overwhelming: in the space of National secretaries for the highest in the developed world – the New Zealand Public the 41,000 children hospitalised every two hours we received close to 1500 Service Association year for housing-related illnesses; responses, and by the time the survey Te Pūkenga Here the rampant rise in house prices; the closed, over 2500 members had Tikanga Mahi desperate shortage of affordable, completed the survey. safe and secure rental housing; and The survey revealed some startling growing wealth inequality in New information. Almost two thirds of Zealand. Housing is in crisis. respondents said that the housing The human cost of this failing policy is crisis had had a “somewhat negative” devastating, and it will continue to be or “strongly negative” impact on the this way unless we draw a line in the quality of their lives. A worrying 57 sand and say “enough is enough” – we per cent of respondents said they need solutions. had considered leaving Auckland for reasons related to housing. The PSA is adding its voice to the many Affordability was a big problem, who are demanding change. We have particularly for members with

3 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Foreword

dependents: 58 per cent of single sub-standard rental properties for income households and 51 per cent fear of losing their tenancy. of double income households with dependents were paying at least half They told us of their feelings of their income on housing costs. depression about what the future holds; of their feelings of lack of Over the last couple of months choice and of shame. The housing we’ve extended the survey to PSA crisis is more than just bricks and members in other parts of New mortar, it profoundly affects people’s Zealand. We’ve collected the stories quality of life, their sense of security of members in Waikato, Bay of and control, and their physical, Plenty, Wellington and Canterbury. emotional and mental wellbeing. As with our Auckland survey, we had Here at the PSA a huge response, and we now have These are workers and families we think it’s a combined survey sample of just in crisis, and the implications are under 9,500 members. far-reaching. If our key public and time for a bold community workers cannot afford to Affordability is a problem across the live in our large cities, the viability reimagining of country, particularly for those people and wellbeing of these cities the way that we renting a house. In the Waikato and themselves are in jeopardy. Bay of Plenty regions, 53 per cent organise, plan of renters paid at least half their The rising cost of housing has far and deliver income on housing, compared to outstripped the wage increases our 23 per cent of mortgage-payers. In members have received; and the housing in New Wellington a staggering 84 per cent equations have become impossible Zealand.” of renters paid at least half their for many to manage. income on housing, compared to 58 per cent of those paying a mortgage. Here at the PSA we think it’s time Anyone who is renting or has a large for a bold reimagining of the way mortgage is struggling to meet their that we organise, plan and deliver housing costs. housing in New Zealand.

Behind all these statistics lie very It’s time to pool our collective human stories of people struggling wisdom and our sense of fairness with the fallout of the housing and compassion to design housing crisis. Members shared with us solutions for current and future their feelings of stress, anxiety and generations that will truly address desperation as they struggle to meet these problems on a structural level the cost of housing. They told us of and endure beyond changes in their reluctance to complain about government.

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 4 Foreword

Ultimately, the key to solving this We need to recognise that the crisis lies in a fundamental re- way we’re doing things now just imagining of how we treat housing. isn’t working for too many people, For a number of decades now, including our members, and that housing has been treated as our our core values as New Zealanders primary means of individual wealth are not reflected in our social and creation and retirement security. economic policies.

This may have worked in the post- At times like this in the past war era when government was we've responded with brave and actively involved in building houses transformative reforms; we can do it Over the last and supporting people into home again. ownership, and when the economy few years we We did it back in the 1930s when the was structured in such a way as to First Labour Government introduced have heard an protect people against the worst a comprehensive social security excesses of the market. ever-growing system that recognised the collective body of For most – but not all of us – home benefit of state support. ownership was possible. And for We did it again in the post-World War evidence that those unable to buy a house, decent II consensus on the need to protect and affordable state housing was the current human rights and in the introduction available to rent. government’s of a world-leading no fault accident approach to The housing crisis we are in now compensation scheme in 1972. is, without doubt, largely the We believe it’s time for another housing is consequence of economy-wide great leap forward: for bold and policy changes enacted by successive failing.” imaginative action on housing. governments since the 1980s. The Tinkering around the edges is not erosion of labour protections have going to fix this mess. Instead, we kept wages low and undermined job need to reposition housing as a security. State supports for home public good and an integral part of ownership have been removed and our collective resource, which helps the role of the state in the provision, our people and our communities to planning and regulation of housing thrive. minimised. Despite major tax reform in the 1980s, wealth remains largely We’re hoping this book will influence untaxed and, as several authors the housing debate and prompt outline in this book, the tax system is our decision-makers to design structured in such a way as to favour and implement policies that are property ownership over other forms brave, ambitious and forward- of retirement saving. thinking. And most importantly of

5 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Foreword all, that restore the right to decent, are both practical and visionary: from affordable, and secure housing for all changing tax structures, to creating a people. universal social housing sector based on high quality, affordable rentals; A common theme running through from permanent tenancies to urban the contributions to this book is planning that takes account of the that the State must assume a much needs of our changing demographics. more active role if we are to solve the housing crisis. The provision, All our contributors place people at planning and regulation of housing is the centre of their pieces, and their a core responsibility of government. writing is shaped by the values of As many of the contributors to this fairness, decency and collective We believe book demonstrate, the market cannot good. We think the time is right for and will not deliver affordable a great leap forward. We hope you’ll it’s time for housing of the scale that we need. join us. another great Nor will the market require landlords Erin and Glenn leap forward: to insulate their houses or allow Note: the views expressed in the their tenants to treat their houses as for bold and homes. following chapters belong to their authors and do not necessarily imaginative The contributors to this book present represent the view of PSA members or action on solutions to the housing crisis that the organisation. housing.”

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on tax 6 Housing and health

We are coming up to an election where, by many accounts, housing is the area of most concern for voters.

Citizens’ concerns are the shortage of Our hospitals overflow in winter. affordable housing, the poor quality Unlike almost all developed of private rental housing, declining countries, 1,600 more people die building standards with poor in the winter than in the summer building practices leading to leaky months. buildings, and high levels of deferred The solutions are multifaceted, but maintenance in existing buildings. Philippa Howden- clear. We need to change our views about the critical importance of Chapman Even more disturbing, is that these housing issues are interacting to drive good housing. We need to come to Philippa Howden- an informed consensus about what many of our major health problems Chapman is a professor good quality housing looks like in in respiratory, cardiovascular and of public health at the New Zealand and how we can be infectious diseases. University of Otago’s sure it is well built and maintained. Wellington campus. Growing numbers of children are She is director of He Responsibility starts from the top. Kainga Oranga/ Housing in severe housing deprivation. and Health Research Speaking more plainly, there are We need a Minister of Housing, and Programme and the children living in cars, camping preferably a Minister of Housing New Zealand Centre for grounds, sheds, storage containers or and Urban Development, who Sustainable Cities. doubled-up in crowded houses, with is responsible for: construction many more living in miserably, cold standards; incentives for building homes. affordable housing; building and There are children who move round management of state housing; so often, usually from one rental regulatory standards for both state property to another, that they never and private rental housing; and, who have a chance to do their best at clearly understands housing must be planned to encourage active travel school and beyond and as a result and neighbourhood and city design. often form the long tail of poor school This is a daunting list, but in a country performers of less than five million surely doable.

There are 41,000 children hospitalised We need a Minister of Housing who each year for medical conditions that recognises that we cannot improve we clearly now know are related to the quality of housing in New Zealand housing hazards like damp, cold, until we join the rest of the developed mould and crowding. world in having reliable statistics

7 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Housing and health about the quality of existing housing; following the use of similar buildings so-called ‘tier one’ statistics. for student accommodation.

Like the United Kingdom, we must The Council is committed to know what proportion of our houses introducing a rental housing are “decent.” We need to know warrant of fitness and working with whether things are improving or academics to evaluate the benefits getting worse on the housing front, and costs of this scheme, for the so that we can allocate funding health of tenants and the effects on appropriately. landlords and the council.

We need a government with a We are a highly educated population. Cabinet that understands the We can learn by doing – if we plan fundamental connections between social experiments thoughtfully, roll housing, health, energy, climate out our plans more widely if they change, education and social work, and change direction if they do We need to inclusion. The Minister of Housing not. needs support in Cabinet to prioritise change our housing improvements and set firm, Who should pay for housing views about monitored targets for affordable improvements? Take the example of the critical housing in the private sector, as well retrofitting insulation into existing as state and community housing. houses, which make up the bulk of importance of The Minister of Housing needs to our housing stock and were built good housing.” work closely and collaboratively with before there were any regulations. local governments, which like the Uninsulated houses are energy Wellington City Council have set up inefficient and expensive to heat. taskforces to consider the range of Cold houses are damp houses and problems facing the city and invest in a range of solutions. mould, which grows better in damp houses, can cause asthma as well as The Council is using the capital making asthma symptoms worse. grant from the former Labour Government to upgrade its modernist Living in cold housing is depressing. apartment blocks with outstanding Until recently, there has been multi- results. Working with dedicated party support for this policy, which developers and community housing has driven outstanding and carefully organisations, the Council is building measured benefits in health, reduced more affordable housing and hospitalisations, reduced mortality, refurbishing available commercial improved energy efficiency and buildings as affordable apartments, carbon reductions.

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 8 Housing and health

The benefits are six times as large Yet, public benefits are also as the costs for younger and older clear for affordable housing - no people and four times for the private developers, unless they general population. are philanthropists, build quality housing at the low-income end of The uniquely, rigorous nature of the market. Having secure, warm our evidence has been noted by housing helps children thrive and the International Energy Agency, helps keep the young and old out of the OECD and the World Health hospital. Organisation. Why then is the current government stopping There is now sadly a welter of We need a the Warm Up New Zealand research evidence that poor Programme? It appears that the housing causes poor health, government Government thinks that the stress and misery. Happily, with a benefits, such as warmth and there is also clear evidence that comfort, are largely private. insulated housing, with effective Cabinet that non-polluting heating, improves understands the The Government seems to be and maintains the health and ignoring the cogent argument well-being of the occupants and fundamental that, because there are clear and enables them to fully participate in significant public benefits, public community life. connections money should be invested in this between programme. To adequately house all New Zealanders, we all need to accept housing, After the Canterbury earthquakes, that just as it takes a village to raise health, energy, the Government has partially a child, it takes a country to care funded showpiece anchor that everyone has a secure, warm, climate change, projects as part of Christchurch’s dry house to live in. regeneration, but has not education and adequately invested in affordable That means that we will all need to social inclusion.” housing. vote for real social investment and be willing to contribute according to our means. 

9 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing “ I currently pay over $700 a week on rent and have had to move four times within the last five years due to the sale of rental properties. Quite frankly it's a nightmare.”

“We survive....don't live. 70% of our income goes to the house... saving is nearly impossible.”

“I am afraid to ask the landlord to get maintenance done because I fear that they will put up the rent. I cannot afford to pay more.”

Source: PSA survey of Auckland members on housing, March 2017 Affordability – Where next?

Housing in New Zealand is in trouble Construction productivity flatlines in so many ways. Quality, cost and at $34/hr added value compared to sustainability all have roles in the a national average of $48/hr, with discourse. The critical issue, both innovation 10 per cent below the locally and nationally, is the Auckland national average. Consequently affordability crisis creating economic building new is growing in expense, instability. irrespective of economies of scale. We build approximately 7,200 How did we get here and where dwellings per annum against demand next? The culprits have all been of 14,000 per annum for the next 30 paraded before the demos - builders years. Professor John overcharging, lack of competition in The only way to meet housing Tookey materials, foreign investors, property needs would be to double labour speculators. Everything up to and Professor John Tookey productivity through innovation, is Director CUBE-NZ, including “A big boy did it and ran or double our total workforce in at Auckland University away”. So why this mess? housebuilding. Since we do not have of Technology’s School a transient labour force of skilled of Engineering. His Technology areas of expertise workers as in Europe, productivity include: Construction In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon through technology is where we need management, logistics, Moore noticed the number of to invest. SCM. Productivity, transistors per square inch on procurement, building integrated circuits doubled annually, Housing Types costs and BIM. whilst the price reduced. The ‘Affordable’ houses are more His current research eponymous “Moore’s Law” has expensive to build pro rata than projects include larger properties. Typically, affordable an Economic become our benchmark expectation Evaluation of Zero for product performance ever since. homes are two or more storeys and Waste Construction The phone or computer you use attached rather than detached. (BRANZ / Winstone gets ever more capable, and our The scaffolding and other technical Wallboards) and a performance expectations grow requirements (thank you Health and study into Transaction in lockstep. Your phone now does Costs economics in Safety Act 2016!) lead to a cost of construction. email, photography, storage and route around $3,400/m2. Conversely large finding with GPS. single storey houses are $2,000/m2. The result? Affordable homes are By contrast, what has been happening affordable to the end purchaser, not in the building industry over the the builder in the value chain. last 50 years? Not much. Houses are built as they were, using the same Why would a builder build lower materials, trades and taking the same margin housing for the public good amount of time. if not compelled to do so? New

11 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Affordability – Where next? homebuyers tend to specify the Fragility largest possible house on their Our housing industry is literally section in order to incorporate the maximum residual value for a cottage industry: 98.5 per cent themselves. are single person, ephemeral companies subsisting from invoice Thus we see census trends in house to invoice, using credit lines to stay building showing increases in four liquid. to five bedroom properties being constructed, while affordable two to Their risk profile requires spreading three bed units are in decline (Figure their effort over several projects 1). In short, the market is driving the simultaneously to maintain wrong outputs at the wrong end of turnover. the market. This industry corpus increases Is it reasonable Special Housing Areas (SHA) fail production scale without recruiting to expect to change these trends, with stand- more tradies and increasing their alone sections developed first and risk – hence costs climb with markets to affordable housing developed last. demand. They are inefficiently deliver societal Indeed, 56 per cent of SHAs have organised with poor bargaining been de-established power compared to group builders. needs then be shocked when they function in their own interests?”

Figure 1: Bedrooms per dwelling in Auckland 2001-2013 (StatsNZ, Census 2013).

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 12 Affordability – Where next?

Most therefore fear the boom-bust drainage and improvement is cycle. Altruism for homebuyers required - consequently it is a tough, is inconsequential amongst their cash-intensive, industry to enter. priorities. Builders take only the work they can manage to limit Once again we expect industry to exposure to the ‘bust’ cycle, thinking absorb the cost and risk of delivering in terms of three to five years until societal needs when increasing the downturn – but indicators are production forces down sale prices already appearing. for all producers. Is it reasonable to expect markets to deliver societal Land needs then be shocked when they Land supply is core to function in their own interests? unaffordability, but the assumption that more land being released and The future Affordable consented more cheaply and rapidly Einstein said: “We will not solve homes are equals more housing more quickly is the problem by using the same fundamentally flawed. reasoning that created the problem”. affordable By contrast, current government This is only true if industry capacity thinking on land availability is the to the end is scalable to demand and the equivalent of Captain Blackadder market operates perfectly. ‘Material purchaser, not anticipating the plan for the next availability’ doesn’t automatically offensive: “It’s the same plan as last the builder deliver higher production rates. Land time and the seventeen times before in the value improvement/preparation capacity is that.” chain.” as constrained as housebuilding. Doubling available land will Blackadder economics from not double the number of land government will not cut it this developers or their capacity. Imagine time. Land release and Special a car producer received an additional Housing Areas (SHAs) are not million tonnes of sheet steel at their solving affordability issues since factory at zero cost. Will more cars be social outcomes are not compelled produced? No. through ‘use it or lose it’ clauses, or incentivised through additional A more likely scenario is optimised profit. production to factory capacity, retaining the current selling Compulsion (or profit motivation) in price, margin and brand value. land development is required if we The problem is exacerbated take affordability seriously. We need because before land is ready for incentives to use prefabrication to housebuilding, costly infrastructure, increase productivity.

13 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Affordability – Where next?

Why not specifically fast-track Imagine genuine state housing consenting for prefabricated (not mortgage assistance schemes) housing? Why not make consents delivering the two to three bedroom zero cost for two to three bedroom housing we need, rather than housing and double or triple expecting industry to deliver this current rates for four to five bed category of homes with lower profits housing? and higher risk?

If this is a national crisis, why not Ultimately government should accept create a national prefabrication the seriousness of affordability. plant producing inexpensive kit-set Blackadder economics and wishful housing with preapproved building thinking will not magically change consent for generic designs? what is and is not profitable for the housing industry to build. How about incentivising landlords We are at a tipping point for the to sell off their buy-to-let We are at a New Zealand economy. The investment properties? Imagine a electorate know it. The question for tipping point scheme where landlords agree to government is whether laissez-faire divest their portfolio so they can for the New ideology or pragmatic intervention place their capital gain tax free into will win the debate. Zealand Kiwisaver – provided they commit to not owning directly or indirectly Either way, decisive action is required economy.” investment property in the future. now. 

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 14 Innovating our way out of New Zealand’s housing disaster

A game changer for housing in New Zealand

Home is a place to keep us well and owners and landlords to the detriment to connect us to our family and of everyone else. These people have community. Our homes can bring us a ignored policies that would enable deep sense of satisfaction as we make quality affordable housing for them our own. A home enables us everyone, and while the rot is revealed to pursue our goals, to seek what we the solutions proffered are too little value and advance our autonomy. All too late. in New Zealand Aotearoa should have such a place to thrive. A generation of New Zealanders are Dr Jess now shut out of house ownership Berentson-Shaw All families should live in homes that and forced into expensive, broken keep their babies healthy and offer down, rental housing or hard to access Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw is a science researcher security during financially vulnerable unhealthy social housing. It is utterly working for the Morgan years. Young people should find unacceptable. Foundation. Jess comfortable, affordable homes that holds a PhD in Health enable them in their study and work However, we can fix this, we can Psychology from Victoria pursuits. Older people living on their rebuild the foundations and ensure University. Jess has over own should be part of a community, homes are again a source of wellbeing 10 years’ experience feel safe, and be cared for. for all. working on applying science and evidence to None of us need pay more than a third We need a game-changer and the public policy. of our income on accommodation to first step is to move away from the She worked on live in a healthy home that brings us ideology that home ownership is the improving the use contentment. Our homes and whenua best outcome. Home ownership is of science in public should be the foundation for our privileged in policy, in part due to health practice in NZ, wellbeing. Once they were. data showing better quality of life for before working as a homeowners. However, this premise Research Fellow at Looking back 60 years, New Zealand is self-perpetuating. New Zealand has University College in London, where she was no Camelot, but we were walking a dualistic housing system: houses researched how doctors a policy path that ensured that most are either owned, or rented within a and clinicians translate people had a strong and stable home private market, with a small number scientific evidence into from which to pursue their goals. We of social houses. their clinical practice. have veered off this path and housing has become the heart of many of our In dualistic systems, quality of life problems. is better for home owners because the rental sector is so poor: choice For a generation at least, successive is limited and quality is markedly governments have chosen tax and worse in rentals (Building Research housing policies that benefit house Association of New Zealand data

15 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Innovating our way out of New Zealand’s housing disaster proves this), the high cost means weatherboards for fear of missing those renting are unable to make out on their only retirement other investments to achieve long investment. Private landlords will term financial security. have to bring their properties up to scratch and their prices down in line Those who have the money to escape with what is offered in the not for to ownership do so, and for many of profit sector. them, their only investment is their house. However, evidence is clear Building a large scale not-for- that outcomes are better for people profit rental sector is a long- and for society with an integrated term commitment from central rental-housing sector: where high government and a genuine social quality cost-based rental makes up a investment. It would produce major large proportion (up to 40 per cent) twenty to thirty-year gains for the of the housing sector. country in terms of health, wellbeing We need a and productivity. In New Zealand, we need to move game-changer away from house ownership as the It would, for a start, require major and the first best option. Instead it is time to capital investment to ensure give all people true choice in quality sufficient homes of the right type step is to move affordable housing. in the right place were added away from into the housing sector. Central Implementing a set of innovative government, with their advantages the ideology policies, we can reign in a rental in information and scale purchasing, that home sector saturated with low quality would undertake the planning and and expensive houses and do away building. Stock would then need to ownership with the very concept of targeted be gifted to the not for profit sector is the best ‘social housing’ subject to the whims and/or capital loans made, as sector of political ideology. Instead we can capacity grew. outcome.” build a universal housing system where all New Zealanders will have access to affordable, high quality, Strong regulations would protect consistently warm and healthy tenants and ensure that the not-for- homes where they need them. profit sector (NFP) prices did not exceed cost of provision (keeping Home ownership will still be a rents low). As the NFP sector grew it choice, but equally so will the would become self-sustaining and opportunity to invest in productive attract outside capital investment. sectors, as young people no longer Government guarantees would be have to pour everything they earn required to attract the right kind of (and more) into a pile of rotten investors, e.g. superannuation funds.

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 16 Innovating our way out of New Zealand’s housing disaster

People in central government reduce in real terms. Changes to would develop new minimum the tax treatments on non-housing standards for housing based on investments and property and land validated data that such standards investments would accompany this actually delivered the wellbeing strategy. purposes set out in the Building Act. To tackle long-term fuel Under the Fiscal Responsibly Act, poverty and climate change we government investment requires the government of the day to In building a would implement evidence-based energy efficient building standards reduce total crown debt to “prudent large not-for- in the NFP sector (e.g. passivehaus). levels” so as to provide a buffer against factors that may impact profit rental The current accommodation adversely on that debt in the future. sector in supplements and income related rent subsidies (around $2 billion There is a veritable mountain of Aotearoa, we per year) and ownership schemes evidence that without affordable, can rebuild our (around $86 million a year) would high quality, warm housing – be redirected into a means tested especially for children – New foundations tenancy neutral housing benefit. Zealand’s wellbeing is being and realise a adversely impacted. Housing is one The benefit would ensure those of the best investments that can be vision where on low and middle incomes could made in a society for its long-term homes are at access a home they chose at an benefit. In building a large not-for- evidently affordable price. As the profit rental sector in Aotearoa, we the heart of our sector grew and house values and can rebuild our foundations and wellbeing.” costs stabilised (or came down), the realise a vision where homes are at housing benefit payments would the heart of our wellbeing. 

17 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing The soft privatisation of state housing

When it comes to state housing, of HNZ’s stock is three-bedroom the current government has an detached dwellings, many of which ideological blind spot: it cannot move are in small provincial cities with beyond its fundamental belief that relatively low demand. Demand state housing is simply a financial presently is greatest in Auckland, asset. Wellington and Christchurch and it is for one, two and five bedroom units. The theory goes that this “financial asset” – and it’s a substantial asset, The Government has given HNZ an with Housing NZ’s (HNZ) 2016 almost impossible task as it attempts valuation coming in at $19.2 billion, this reconfiguration. HNZ has been or 20 per cent of net Crown wealth – required to undertake massive capital Alan Johnson would be better owned and managed spending projects, while continuing by the private and community sector. to address growing demand and at Alan currently works as the same time pay dividends to the a social policy analyst Thus we have seen the direct Crown. Between 2011 and 2015, the for The Salvation Army’s Social Policy & privatisation of thousands of state Government extracted $414 million in Parliamentary Unit. He houses. Alongside this we are seeing dividends from HNZ and contributed is author of Off The the “soft” privatisation of our public just $31 million in additional capital. Track, The Salvation housing assets whereby land formerly While this dividend policy changed Army’s 2017 State of the occupied by state housing is largely in 2016 - with only $4 million in Nation Report. given over to private ownership. dividends being paid - essentially this In his spare time he is financial equation has meant that a community activist Solutions to our housing crisis must HNZ’s reconfiguration has had to be in South Auckland include the acknowledgement that funded by asset sales. But this is only where he is active as an the value of state, or publicly-owned, where a soft privatisation begins. administrator in local housing is so much more than its sports clubs and as a balance sheet worth, and significant In 2015, the Government’s social school trustee. He has efforts must be put into increasing our housing agenda became more focused also held positions as a publicly funded housing stock. on dividing up Housing New Zealand’s trustee of the Auckland assets. In early 2016, the Government Community Housing Trust and as the Chair As part of the National Government’s transferred 2,700 state houses located of Community Housing Social Housing reform programme in the Auckland suburbs of Glen Aotearoa. a great deal of effort is going into Innes, Point England and Panmure reconfiguring the existing state into the Tamaki Regeneration housing stock. This reconfiguration Company (TRC). This is a joint is well overdue, in part because venture between the Government much of the stock is old and poorly and Auckland Council to oversee the maintained, but mainly because redevelopment of Tamaki over the it is the wrong sort of housing in next 20 years. In early 2017, 1,138 the wrong place. Essentially much state houses in Tauranga were sold to

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 18 The soft privatisation of state housing

a consortium headed by Accessible with rising house prices and rents, Properties – a subsidiary of IHC, weak tenancy protection laws and a but which also involved merchant tax regime that rewards the treatment bankers, possibly as equity partners. of housing as an investment rather Later in 2017 the Government is than as a home. The need for planning to sell off 2,500 state houses government housing assistance is in Christchurch, possibly to a foreign growing at an alarming rate: between buyer. March 2016 and March 2017 the Perhaps the worst effect of the soft number of housing applicants to the privatisation of state housing is the Ministry of Social Development with a loss of development potential on critical or serious housing need grew land occupied by state houses. This from 3,549 to 4,865 - a 37 per cent is especially the case in Auckland, increase. ...it will take where, for example, in the Tamaki regeneration 2,500 former state Addressing this failure has become a 10 to 20 years of houses will be demolished to make generational challenge. With the best investment and way for 2,500 social housing units, efforts of government and the greatest 1,000 so-called affordable units which patience from the electorate, it will development are valued at under $650,000, and take 10 to 20 years of investment to address our 4,000 units that will be sold on the and development to address our open market. In other words, for all now critical shortages in social and now critical this effort - which may extend over affordable housing. Such a challenge shortages in 20 years - there is no additional social will not be met without substantial housing provided. This exercise can and long-term public investment social and really be seen as state sponsored which will be in the order of tens of affordable gentrification where public assets billions of dollars. A belief that it can housing.” are made available for private achieved without such a commitment development and investment. is either naïve or cynical.

These sell-offs are happening against We need to abandon the reform a background of a quiet reduction in programmes and soft privatisations state house numbers since 2011. In of the present government and avoid 2011 Housing New Zealand owned the vague strategies of the previous 66,352 units, but by 2016 this number one. Instead, we need credible plans had fallen to around 64,600, including and realistic budgets to expand the those transferred to TRC. social housing stock, to develop new The tragedy is that this is occurring at suburbs and redevelop old ones, and a time when the private rental market to provide people with the necessary is failing our most vulnerable citizens, skills and career paths to build these.

19 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing The soft privatisation of state housing

The challenge of addressing our building. This nation-building is of housing shortage will almost certainly course more than building houses. fall to Generation X. This is somewhat ironic given the legacy they have been Nation-building can be about the left by the Baby Boom Generation. things we build with houses - new and revitalised communities, But as a challenge, it may define prosperous cities based in sustainable this generation if it sets aside the 30 infrastructures and most importantly, years of neglect of the neo-liberals lives enhanced by the opportunities and begins again to focus on nation- offered by safe and secure housing. 

This exercise can really be seen as state sponsored gentrification where public assets are made available for private development and investment.”

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 20 Beyond the quarter-acre section: planning for our changing communities

New Zealand’s housing shortage has This year’s Demographia International a long history. Perhaps that is why Housing Affordability Survey1, which we remember two periods fondly: benchmarks housing affordability in the time when the First Labour nine countries found New Zealand’s Government built 30,000 state houses major housing markets to be “severely (between 1935-1949), and the quarter- unaffordable”. Six of the eight New acre paradise of the late 1950s-1960s, Zealand markets rated – even regional when, due to a good economy, it centres such as Napier and Hastings seemed almost any family could – were in this category. This reflects build a new house in the country’s a low wage economy where the cost expanding suburbs. of land, building, housing, rates and utilities are high. This is one of the Bill McKay The post-war years were the heyday fundamental economic problems Bill McKay is an of the suburbs; those sunny, green underlying housing affordability. architectural historian, expanses where schools, parks and critic and commentator Not only is housing unaffordable, new shopping centres were located, based at the University it is of a low standard. People are of Auckland’s School and where we built American- paying through the nose for damp of Architecture and influenced ranch-style family homes homes without insulation or heating. Planning. with open plans, patios, pergolas and Our homes are expensive to run His recent books driveways full of cars. at best, and real health hazards at include a history of state worst. Many of our houses are dated housing, Beyond the This heyday was short-lived. Urban and inefficient, built in the post-war State: NZ State Houses drift and increased migration means period from high maintenance but low from Modest to Modern that today we have a much more quality synthetic materials such as (a 2014 NZ Post Book diverse population. Our city centres Awards finalist). He pine products, fibre cement cladding discusses urban issues have changed, as has the way we want and tin roofs. fortnightly on RNZ’s to live our lives. Nine to Noon show. The need for a diversity of quality So where are we now and how dwelling types is not addressed by did we get here? policies of major political parties; rather they trumpet the number of The housing crisis we are confronted houses they will build. with today is three-pronged. It’s a crisis of affordability, quality and Lastly the availability of housing is a availability – and it’s not limited to huge stumbling block. Houses need Auckland. to be near places where adults work,

1. http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf

21 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Beyond the quarter-acre section: planning for our changing communities children go to school and shops and to save for a home of their own. At community facilities are available. the other end of the demographic Today, many New Zealanders are spectrum, if New Zealand is to free priced out of suburbs close to their up its suburban three-bedroom workplaces. Living on one side of houses for young families, we need town and working on the other isn’t more options for empty-nesters and just an inconvenience; it increases baby boomers looking to downsize. the cost of living, clogs roads and This will allow young families to live leads to governments building in those suburbs with community motorways rather than focusing on facilities, schools and sports fields. putting houses where people can live close to where they work and We are no longer a homogenous play. nation. Through recognition of Māori values over the last few The private We must acknowledge decades and increasing migration, sector won’t changing demographics we are becoming more conscious of diverse cultural values. Our housing build affordable Before we can plan our way out of options need to cater for these if we housing and the crisis, we need to acknowledge the want to build a strong multi-cultural impact of changing demographics. society. market will not New Zealand is not the nation of the nuclear family. The shape and size of Decent urban planning doesn’t deal with the our households is changing, which mean more urban sprawl housing crisis” impacts the suitability of homes. What’s more, future population One thing fundamental to all projections are not being taken housing is land. Unfortunately it’s into account in policy-making or the view of our two largest political planning. parties, shared by many in business, that large cities should get rid of Statistics New Zealand Family and their metropolitan boundaries and Household Projections tell us the develop new suburbs on current average family size is 2.6 but the farmland, because it’s cheap. most common household type is a couple. This ‘greenfield’ development is an unsustainable practice that eats up We need affordable terrace houses arable land or valuable ecologies, and apartment buildings for singles and requires more infrastructure; and young couples so they can live not just sewers and roads, but close to work and entertainment, schools, shopping centres and while still having the opportunity community facilities.

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 22 Beyond the quarter-acre section: planning for our changing communities

This kind of sprawl perpetuates acquire planning and building many of the issues such as traffic consents and then build with congestion and sewerage disposal their own funds. Here, they will that have plagued our big cities only plan and obtain consents. for decades. A variation on this is This sounds like another attempt the ‘satellite city’ – development at fast track consenting similar of a small village into a ‘dormitory to Special Housing Areas (SHAs). suburb’ – but it is essential that Unfortunately the SHAs have not these are connected by high-speed created many new areas of housing; public transport systems such as rail and many have been used by land or busways. bankers to drive up the value of land rather than build houses. Increasing density is an alternative Not only solution to sprawl, reducing land Finance issues and construction is housing cost by putting more dwellings on costs drive up the cost of housing. it. Auckland’s new Unitary Plan Property development is an unaffordable, will allow the city to literally grow expensive and risky business it is of a low up, with not just more high-rise anywhere; consequently builders apartment buildings in the inner are not interested in building standard. city but more four to five storey affordable homes. buildings along main roads that People are Why sell a house for a few hundred already have good existing transport thousand dollars when a bit extra paying through connections. the nose for spent on fancy bathrooms, kitchens The Government has recently and other features will net you a damp homes announced its intention to create much greater profit? And the public, without Urban Development Authorities through a diet of magazines and (UDAs). These are widely used TV shows, have become addicted to insulation or overseas in big cities to acquire land flash houses. in the same way that compulsory heating.” If there is one thing more expensive acquisition works for roads, to than construction, it’s middle class create new master-planned housing taste: we are no longer happy with and community facilities. the smaller, simpler houses our They typically take ‘brownfield’ parents lived in. areas such as former light industrial areas, racecourses, or run-down social housing areas. But overseas these UDAs create masterplans, Continued on page 28 >>

23 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Case study cover to design Case study: Māori housing movements

Jade Kake edited by Victoria Crockford

Jade Kake, Te Matapihi Jade Kake (Ngāpuhi, Te Whakatōhea, Te Arawa) is an architectural designer, housing advocate, and researcher. Her organisation, Te Matapihi, works to advance Maori housing outcomes at a national level through systems advocacy, sector development, policy, and research.

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 24 Case study: Māori housing movements

The papakāinga, or “Māori housing” (restricted) and noa (unrestricted). papakāinga represents a more movement has been fundamental The whenua provided a stable hopeful future, as whānau and to Māori asserting their right to intergenerational economic base, and communities are increasingly reoccupy their whenua and live was a source of not only nourishment defining for themselves how and as Māori. At the simplest level, but also collective identity, as where they want to live, and with papakāinga are settlements built evidenced through our whakapapa, whom. on land that the people living there which as Maori links us directly to are related to. Recognising the need Papatūnuku. In its most holistic sense, papakāinga for housing to provide more than is much more than just housing, just an individual roof, papakāinga Post-contact came the profound and offers communities the are built on a philosophy of values: damage to the social fabric caused by opportunity to become champions manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga, rapid, en-masse urbanisation, and the of self-production, independence wairuatanga, whānaungatanga. accompanying loss of whanau and and interdependence, across key Values that - if enacted - could cultural supports. areas such as energy, food and position Aotearoa as a world leader in transport. It can empower previously community housing. disenfranchised communities to respond fully and cooperatively A History of Dispossession Papakāinga offers to their own needs, including through communally owned mara What makes housing for Māori the opportunity kai, community-based micro- different to housing for non- to respond to the enterprise, more traditional land- Māori is our relationships through based agriculture, horticulture, and whakapapa, with our land and with social needs of the silviculture, and other economic each other. It is defined by how community.” activities across diverse sectors we as Māori might want to live such as technology, arts, culture and from a cultural perspective, and tourism. acknowledges a painful history of This was exacerbated by a series of land loss and dispossession. government policies, including the It also offers the opportunity to discontinuation of Māori and state respond to the social needs of the Pre-contact, as Māori we lived in housing loans and the withdrawal of community through innovative kāinga or villages, which were the state support for papakāinga. Māori culturally-based health and social focal point of social and economic home ownership rates declined from service provision, activities for activity. Kāinga were deliberately the 1980s onwards. At the time of the tamariki and rangatahi, and high- located in close proximity to natural 2013 census, Māori home ownership quality education programmes. resources, and there was often an sat at 28.2 per cent; well below the associated pā or fortified settlement It is a place where our culture and reo national average of close to 50 per nearby. The kāinga consisted of can thrive, and where we can exercise cent (Statistics New Zealand, 2013). dense clusters of dwellings, occupied our whanaungatanga (kinship by whānau and extended whānau relationships) and use our social groups, with communal facilities Papakāinga - A Hopeful Future capital to support one another. This sited in accordance with tapu The emergence of contemporary may not be the preferred option for

25 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Case study: Māori housing movements

Waimārama development all Māori, but it is a uniquely Māori (where the majority of Māori land marae or hapū level, outside of (or concept that many are increasingly is located) because it offers a real parallel to) iwi political structures. identifying as one that has meaning alternative to – and a degree of for them. protection from – free market Papakāinga in Practice capitalism. The papakāinga concept is also Two recently opened developments important because of its huge Whilst acknowledging the in Waimārama and Waipatu (Te (and still largely unrealised) significance of Treaty of Waitangi Taiwhenua o Heretaunga), are the potential to disrupt settler political settlements in re-establishing a embodiments of the immense and economic systems. Through tribal economic base, many do potential of - and structural barriers rebuilding our kāinga, we have not necessarily see the Crown- facing - papakāinga. the power to repair our social led settlement process as ‘the structures and reinstate our tribal solution’ to the issues faced by their With a kaupapa of healthy, economies. This is especially communities. The re-establishment affordable homes, the team behind attractive to many regional and of papakāinga firmly places the both papakāinga - led by Paora rural hau kāinga communities power of response at a whānau, Sheerhan (Ngāti Kahungunu,

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 26 Case study: Māori housing movements

Ngāti Pāhauwera) - has successfully Despite these obstacles, the holistic of the benefits of individual home delivered thirteen homes on a mixed ideal of the papakāinga is already ownership, such as equity? What are model basis, with rentals set around manifesting at both developments. the international models we can learn 80 per cent of the market rate. There At Waimārama, it is recognised that from? is the potential for an additional the papakāinga is the wellspring from 32 homes at the Waipatu site, and a which the whānau can reconnect As part of our systems approach to further three whānau in the rohe are with their marae and each other after advocacy, we are also committed to working with Sheeran and his team to three generations away from the tackling the review and reform of develop their own projects. Building area. At Waipatu, intergenerational Kāinga Whenua, and what changes to partnerships with service providers commercial ventures - such as a policy and banking sector practices has enhanced the commercial market garden day - have started might be required to make it work. viability of the projects: by working to form, realising the potential on multiple projects, economies of for rangatahi and kaumātua to Papakāinga is the form that housing scale have been created and positive come together and strengthen the takes when it has community at its contractor relationships formed. core. The realisation of such housing The path has not all been smooth, requires clarity of vision, political however. A significant portion of Papakāinga is the commitment, and work. Māori have both projects’ funding came from shown that we are up to the task – Kiwibank’s Kāinga Whenua. Kāinga form that housing will we see the same commitment Whenua, the first and only loan takes when it has from our Treaty partner?  scheme to offer finance from a mainstream bank to owners of Māori community at its Reference List land, was introduced in 2009 in an core.” effort to address a lack of access to Office of the Auditor-General. (2011). finance for papakāinga. Meeting Government planning and support the scheme’s strict criteria was a position of Mātauranga Māori in the for housing on Māori land – Ngā frustration for the Waimārama and community. whakatakotoranga kaupapa me te Waipatu development teams, and tautoko a te Kāwanatanga ki te hanga remains an issue for papakāinga Where To From Here? whare i runga i te whenua Māori. more generally. Uptake has been Te Matapihi is committed to best Retrieved from http://www.oag.govt. disappointingly low. supporting Māori aspirations by nz/2011/housing-on-maori-land/. There is also the dilemma of exploring what models might emerge Statistics New Zealand. (2013). 2013 maintaining sovereignty while when housing finance is examined Census QuickStats About Housing. receiving Government grants. through a Māori lens. For example, The question of whether Tino how can we move beyond the Retrieved from http://www.stats. Rangatiratanga can be fully realised renter/homeowner binary, towards govt.nz/Census/2013-census/profile- when obligated to the Crown is one a model that promotes collective and-summary-reports/quickstats- that has hung over the projects the ownership, whilst also allowing about-housing/home-ownership- whole way. individual households to accrue some individuals.aspx.

27 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Beyond the quarter-acre section: planning for our changing communities

<< Continued from page 23 Whatever we do to deal with the housing problem, there is one thing that is absolutely essential, and So where to next? that is to design and build quality The private sector won’t build solutions. affordable housing and the market We need more mechanisms to will not deal with the housing crisis. encourage and reward quality in both Local and central government need the planning/design areas and the to address the problem through building itself. Our Building Code legislation, taxation and planning is a minimum and most developers The private rules to stop our cities being are happy just to meet that bare Monopoly boards where land and standard. sector won’t housing are speculative, tradable build affordable commodities first and homes second. Quality involves high standards of design, affordability, and the housing and the We need more long-term planning retention of natural environment and market will not by local and central government, heritage. Housing is not just about and a commitment to “build through putting roofs over people’s heads, deal with the the dip” of a construction bust, as it is about building safe, attractive housing crisis.” Auckland’s recent Mayoral Housing and sustainable communities with a Task Force put it. diversity of housing options. 

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 28 Luck and love: housing and disability

When I was 19, I was battling steps and paths, narrow doorways constantly with my parents. I couldn’t where wheelchair users can’t get in move into my friends’ flats – I often the door. But getting through the door couldn’t even get to their front doors. is just the beginning; even houses I’ve So in an attempt to salvage our fierce been able get into, I haven’t been able love for each other, my mum found a to use the bathroom. disability unit behind a student hostel. In New Zealand, we build houses The hostel was for students from that exclude people, with steps up to outside of Wellington, but my mum – the front door and toilets that can’t ever my advocate – persuaded them, Dr Esther be used by someone in a wheelchair. and I moved in for one year. Woodbury But disabled people with other impairments face a variety of barriers Dr Esther Woodbury It wasn’t really accessible; there was a joined the Disabled large step up to the door that was too to safe, appropriate housing: fire People’s Assembly in high for me to safely navigate on a path alarms that only emit noise, risking 2016. She has previously that was a wind tunnel and slippery deaf people’s lives; unfenced properties worked as a disability when wet. I didn’t say anything though, where an autistic child who bolts can advisor for government I took my chances: I had limited run straight onto the road. agencies, and spent a movement, easily broken bones, and long time studying at In a country where only a small various universities and couldn’t get up if I fell – but I was lucky set of houses are appropriate for working as a tutor and that year. many disabled people, we also face researcher. When my friend moved to Wellington discrimination from landlords and property managers. and couldn’t find a wheelchair- accessible flat, she stayed with her new People with assistance dogs – working boyfriend in an upstairs flat. He carried dogs that support blind, Deaf, her up and down a flight of stairs mobility impaired, epileptic, autistic multiple times a day; except one time and diabetic people, among others he dropped her. At ED, my friend was – struggle to find houses due to ‘no told she’d broken ribs, and was asked if pets’ policies, and misunderstanding she was being abused: “No, but I can’t of what legally constitutes a pet. find anywhere accessible to live.” The For landlords who worry that a staff were sorry, but there was nothing wheelchair would damage their floors they could do. or doorways, it can be easier to fill their properties with non-disabled tenants. There are many ways that housing can be inaccessible for disabled people. Some houses can be modified to The most obvious (very common in meet disabled people’s needs. A Deaf Wellington) is physical inaccessibility: person can install vibrating and visual

29 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Luck and love: housing and disability

smoke alarms. Showers over a bath non-disabled adults do. Discussions of can be replaced with a shower stall; the housing crisis raise the difficulty of a set of steps can often be replaced buying a house, even if your income is with a ramp. But disabled people can significantly higher than $50,000; no- generally only do these things if they one even talks about owning your own own the place they live in. home if you earn less than $30,000.

Disabled people in the rental market An aging population will also mean It’s not okay often cannot always make the an increase in the number of disabled that disabled modifications they need to live safely people, as people acquire impairments – even comfortably – and don’t have at a much higher rates as they age – people can only the security of tenure (or government the current figure of 1.2 million New access safe, funding) that make it financially Zealanders identifying as disabled is manageable. likely to rise to 1.8 million in the next appropriate 20 years. Even where landlords allow housing if they modifications and funding is available If nothing changes, it’s just going to get have good luck, – or finances allow – tenants can be harder and harder for disabled people asked to leave with as little as six to exist in New Zealand; to have a place money, and/or weeks’ notice, or three weeks’ notice to eat, to wash, to sleep. people fighting if their year-long lease has come to an end. I’ve heard it said that to get by as a for them.” disabled person requires two things: The housing crisis and the luck and love. It was love that got me inaccessibility of the majority of into supposedly accessible university housing come together in ways that housing and love that carried my are… difficult to navigate. Add to this friend and her wheelchair up and down the fundamental contradiction that in stairs. But I have also been lucky: I own order to make modifications that will my own home now and have been able make homes liveable, disabled people to modify it to meet my needs. are better off if they own their own homes. But it’s not okay that disabled people can only access safe, appropriate But the way our society is organised housing if they have good luck, money, keeps disabled people poor. Almost and/or people fighting for them. And two-thirds of disabled adults earned it doesn’t have to be like this – we less than $30,000, while half of non- could organise society so that disabled disabled adults do. Fewer than twenty people can access safe, appropriate percent of disabled people earn over housing no matter what our bodies are $50,000, while more than a third of like. But much needs to change.

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 30 Luck and love: housing and disability

New Zealand needs strengthened least 25 per cent of all new builds (not tenancy laws to support long-term just social housing) need to be built to tenancies, so that those who cannot universal design principles – it’s been afford to own universally designed done overseas and could be done here. houses or retrofitted ones, can get the support they need to modify the And lastly, we need to directly lift rentals they live in, and to stay in disabled people out of poverty, homes that work for them. because poverty is what creates the most barriers for disabled people, to We need National Planning Standards appropriate housing, and to being able that take into account the housing to participate in society. needs of disabled people, so that housing developers don’t continue to Otherwise disabled people will have to exclude significant portions of society. continue to rely on luck and the people Given the proportion of the disabled who love us – and we will end up in ED In New Zealand, population and the aging population, with broken bones when love and luck and the lack of accessible houses, at run out.  we build houses that exclude people.”

31 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing No country for young men or women

The intergenerational effects of the tax system on New Zealand’s housing markets. The tax system plays a crucial role the highest rate of increase in the in New Zealand’s housing markets. developed world.1 At the simplest level, the Goods and Services Tax is applied to new The average size of new houses has land development and new house also increased more quickly than construction, raising the price of in Australia or the United States, new housing by 15 per cent. But the the only two countries that publish effects of the tax system are more this data. The average size of a new complicated than this. dwelling in 2013 was 198 m2, up from Dr Andrew 2 125 m in 1989, and nearly twice as Coleman, Since 1986 several tax changes have large as the average new house in University of caused an intergenerational rift in Europe. New Zealand society by increasing the Otago. prices young people pay to purchase The tax changes that have affected Dr Andrew Coleman houses. Some of these tax changes housing can be divided into those that has half-time positions appear justifiable on efficiency affect the cost of supplying housing at the University of grounds, but even these have made it and those that affect the demand for Otago, where he more expensive for young people to housing. Unfortunately, unravelling teaches economics, purchase or rent property. the effect of taxes on house prices and and at the Productivity Commission. rents is challenging. In conjunction with other tax From 2008 – 2016 changes that have artificially raised The effects depend on the extent he researched the property prices, a generation of older that the supply of new housing is interactions between property owners have become rich responsive to prices. If the supply of taxes, housing markets, at the expense of current and future housing is very responsive to prices, and retirement schemes at Motu Economic and generations of New Zealanders. taxes that affect supply prices (such as Public Policy Research GST) become fully reflected in prices, The scale of the problem and the New Zealand while taxes that affect demand (such Treasury, and in 2011 he The scale of the problem is seen by as the relative size of taxes on housing was a member of the observing how average property prices income and other assets) do not. Saving Working Group. have increased by over 220 percent in Conversely, if the supply of housing is inflation-adjusted terms since 1989; not really responsive to prices, supply

1. Data on house prices is from the International House Price Database provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. See Mack, A., and Martínez-García, E. (2011) “A Cross- Country Quarterly Database of Real House Prices: A Methodological Note.” Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute Working Paper no. 99 (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, December).

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 32 No country for young men or women

taxes like GST have little effect on properties is twice as high as they prices but demand taxes have large would pay under a non-distortionary effects. tax system.

The analysis is further complicated Incentives because the supply of land – But this is not all. The tax system particularly land in good locations provides incentives for landlords – is less responsive to price than to pay a much higher price/rent the supply of new houses. It is quite multiple for the houses they lease, possible that a particular tax can largely because the absence of a simultaneously lead to higher land capital gains tax. Because the house- prices but not much new land, and price/rent multiple could increase larger houses but not much of an either because house prices increase increase in building costs. or because rents decline (or some A generation of combination of both), the tax system older property Since 1989, the ways that the tax could make buying more expensive or owners have system affects the demand for it could make renting more affordable. housing has been the biggest become rich Most of the evidence suggests house problem. The fundamental difficulty prices have increased rather than at the expense is that the returns from other classes rents have fallen; either way, the result of current of assets such as interest income are is a tax-induced decline in home more heavily taxed than the returns ownership rates. When the tax system and future from housing. causes artificially high house prices, generations costs are imposed on current and Because interest is more heavily future generations of young people, of New taxed than the returns from owner- who have to borrow more and pay Zealanders.” occupied housing – which are higher mortgage costs. essentially the rent people get from their own home – people have an Why 1989? New Zealanders have incentive to live in larger houses never paid tax on the capital gains associated with house price increases, than otherwise, and pay more for and the way housing is taxed was not well-located properties. In the fundamentally changed in 1989. absence of this tax distortion, many people would choose to live in This is true. But the distortionary smaller houses and land prices in effects of taxation depend on the major cities would be a lot lower. way houses are taxed relative to other asset classes, and in 1989 the It is not unreasonable to suspect the government changed the way some premium people pay for well-located other capital income is taxed. Until

33 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing No country for young men or women

1989, money placed into retirement to the new people populating it, but saving schemes was tax deductible, it has also increased the price of and the earnings from this money housing right across cities. People were not taxed as they accumulated. who bought before 2002 shifted the Under this tax scheme – which is cost of new development to others, used in most developed countries increasing the value of their houses, including the United Kingdom, the even though their development costs United States, France, Germany, and had been paid by other ratepayers. Japan – the money placed in these savings schemes is taxed in a similar For a long time, economists have way to housing. pointed out that if you tax the income from housing less than other It reduces the incentive for assets, you tend to increase land Most of the owner-occupiers and landlords to prices. evidence overinvest in housing. While the distortions in the current tax system At the macroeconomic level, they suggests house could be eliminated by introducing a have noted that this tends to prices have capital gains tax on housing and all increase national debt levels, and 2 other assets, and by taxing the rent lower national income. increased you implicitly pay yourself when you The first owners of land benefit from rather than own your home, most countries have these schemes, but everyone else found this too difficult to do. As they loses. Perhaps this is a reason why rents have have discovered, it is far simpler to other countries have been concerned fallen; either change the way other savings are to tax housing on a similar basis to taxed. other assets. It is unfortunate New way, the result On the supply side, in addition to Zealand does not do so, even if the is a tax-induced GST, the Local Government Act tax changes implemented since decline in home (2002) has also affected the cost the late 1980s have proved very of supplying housing by changing advantageous to middle-aged and ownership taxes. Instead of levying property older generations.  rates.” taxes (rates) to fund the costs of developing new sections, local governments have progressively imposed development charges.

This change has improved efficiency by moving the costs of a larger city

2. Feldstein, M. (1977) “The surprising incidence of a tax on pure rent: a new answer to an old question.” Journal of Political Economy 85(2) 349 – 360.

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 34 “Rent and cost of living keeps rising annually but salaries in Bay of Plenty do not. Each year we become less able to save.”

“I have a family of seven who occupy the sleepout and a family of two that occupy a caravan, | both due to homelessness.”

“I am afraid to ask the landlord to get maintenance done because I fear that they will put up the rent. I cannot afford to pay more.”

Source: PSA survey of Waikato/Bay of Plenty members on housing, March 2017 The forgotten 50%

To fix housing we must fix renting

Half of all New Zealanders rent their between renters and landlords home and as a renter for more than is fundamental to imagining a 15 years I can tell you that everything comprehensive solution to the housing about renting needs to change, and crisis. needs to change now. A person’s home (renter or not) is New Zealand’s tenancy laws were central to their wellbeing, affecting designed at a time where — for the all aspects of their life. Our current middle-classes, at least — renting tenancy laws do not acknowledge was a short-term arrangement on the this in any way, meaning that all Robert Whitaker road to home ownership. Today, for renters live in a state of permanent Robert is a designer politicians and media commentators uncertainty. In the landlord is vested and activist living in comfortable in their first, second the power — for any reason, or no Wellington with his and third homes, the rental market is reason — to disrupt or take away a growing family. In viewed through rose-tinted glasses: person’s home. 2014 he helped found Renters United, a three character-building years in a Perversely, the responsibility for new campaigning freezing beer-soaked flat before getting ensuring landlords meet their organisation for renters on the property ladder. But the reality obligations is vested solely in renters, in Wellington and across now is that half of all New Zealanders the country. requiring individuals to effectively are renters and most are in it for the take their landlord to court to have a long-haul. dispute resolved. It is unsurprising Cold and unsafe housing now kills then that only 5 per cent of cases at 1,600 people a year – more than the the Tenancy Tribunal are brought by road toll and workplace illness and tenants. 1 injury combined . Despite this, our Taking a case to the Tribunal is politicians remain fixated on a barely considered to be the “nuclear” option, updated version of the “quarter-acre effectively ending the tenancy and dream”. relationship with the landlord and also placing future tenancies at risk as Power and wellbeing win or lose a tenant’s name appears in Understanding the power imbalance public tribunal records.2

1. Nicol, Ruth (2017), “1600 deaths attributed to cold houses each winter in New Zealand” 9 June 2017 in Noted, accessible from : http://www.noted.co.nz/currently/social- issues/1600-deaths-attributed-to-cold-houses-each-winter-in-new-zealand/. 2. All Tenancy Tribunal orders are published online for three years and landlords and property managers routinely use them to vet tenants.

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 36 The forgotten 50%

Most renters want to think the best and the property speculation that of their landlords and engage with exploits it. them in good faith, but competition in the market, and the underlying Hope and housing security threat of being booted out for Today, housing security is denied someone else, limits the extent to to half of our population simply to which a renter is willing to assert maximise investment returns for their rights. the few. This cannot be allowed to On the other side, it’s naive to think continue. Our tenancy laws must that even the most warm-hearted and change. fair landlord is going to act against Wellington Renters United wants their own personal financial interest. to see all tenancies be made When push comes to shove – and permanent unless there are specific the property market is doing a lot of and reasonable circumstances for shoving at the moment – a property A person's home a fixed-term arrangement. The owner will always seek to protect (renter or not) tenant would have the ability to give their investment. is central to reasonable notice to end the tenancy In our big cities, housing supply but the landlord would be required to their wellbeing, is constrained and profiteering have a specific — legally testable — affecting all property management companies reason for serving notice. Selling the have unchecked authority over who property, or wishing to move a family aspects of their is housed and who is not. This means member in would not qualify, but life.” discrimination is rampant, with illegal activity or failure to pay rent few options for recourse. Default would. tenancies are set at one year and The permanence of the relationship aligned to start and finish at a peak would encourage both parties to in seasonal demand. behave in good faith and seek to This allows landlords to demand top resolve disagreements. Where a dollar in informal rent auctions and dispute did arise, there would be a then have guaranteed rent through to duty to maintain the status quo until the next seasonal increase3. The only the dispute is resolved. The state realistic way for someone to escape should also make well-resourced this cycle is to become a home-owner, mediation services available to which drives house price inflation support dispute resolution so that no

3. In Wellington rents rose more than 10% between December 2017 and March 2017. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/88457181/capital-rents-jump10-per- cent-and-are-set-to-go-higher

37 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing The forgotten 50% renter loses their home just because against — at the landlord’s cost — they have asserted their rights. by local authorities. If this sounds familiar, it’s because this is precisely Whilst radically different from our the regime we already have in place for current tenancy laws, this is actually food safety. very similar to legal framework we have in place for employment. The I see no reason why a hospitalised Employment Relations Act is a good child is any more acceptable when example of the sort of law we need their illness is caused by their home for renters – a law that recognises the rather than by their dinner. inherent power imbalance between the two parties and seeks to mitigate it. These changes won’t address every outrage renters face in our current Sitting alongside this, we also need a system (ask any renter you know about thorough set of well-enforced quality “letting fees”) but without delivering standards to ensure every rental a secure, warm, dry and safe home for Today, housing home is safe for human habitation. the 50 per cent of New Zealanders who security is Such standards should be based on rent, how can we possibly say that we scientific evidence and inspected have “solved” our housing crisis?  denied to half of our population simply to maximise investment returns for the few.”

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 38 Local government and the housing crisis

Land is the costliest part of a house. In places like Auckland, land can cost around two-thirds of a newly built home. There are many reasons why land but the fiscal benefits largely go to prices are so high. They are the same central government. reasons house prices are so high. The high cost of housing comes off the Planning back of sustained excess demand Planning has been a barrier to for housing, both as shelter and an new housing supply. Minimum lot Shamubeel investment. Over time, the lasting sizes mean we are forced to have issues are from excess investment Eaqub large sections, rather than a variety. demand and slow supply of new Minimum site cover rules mean Shamubeel is an housing. we tend to build larger, rather than economist, columnist smaller homes. Other minimum and author. Slow supply of new housing is a requirements like balconies for major challenge and one that is He works at Sense apartments add cost, but not Partners, a boutique squarely aimed at local government. amenity. Plans are often surprised economics consultancy. Local government is a key pinch by much faster population growth, point in land supply, because it He lives in Auckland creating an undersupply. with his wife and son. decides how many houses, of what type, get built when and where. There are, of course, good reasons Because of this pinch point, it also for planning rules and other makes sense to land-bank if the restrictions on land supply and investor has patient capital. Large building proposals. Some of the financial gains can be made when rules are designed to protect the changing land use from rural to environment, or minimise actions residential. by one property owner that could negatively affect others; other rules Local government decisions designate, for example, parks and on urban planning rules and other public amenities that would infrastructure really matter. not be built if urban planning were Land zoned for housing without left to individuals transacting in the infrastructure is not useful. Local market. government is perhaps unfairly blamed for all infrastructure woes There are also the significant costs to because they are bound by their density that the rules aim to mitigate. ability to fund and finance expensive The Dickensian industrial centres infrastructure. The costs of growth of northern Britain and the London tend to fall on local government, of Sherlock Holmes were crowded,

39 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Local government and the housing crisis filthy, polluted, crime-ridden, are experiencing in Auckland and and prone to infectious disease Queenstown, restrictions on land epidemics. The term ‘the Big Smoke’ use are constricting the supply of – now an unremarkable cliché – new homes. This pushes up house was originally used to describe prices until the market reaches a the intense pollution of Victorian- new equilibrium – one that prices era London. Planning rules have many people out of the market. therefore understandably aimed to limit what might be regarded as Infrastructure overly dense housing. Local Government New Zealand, a body representing local councils, But new rules have accumulated has highlighted the need to align over time, expanding the system’s three different pieces of legislation reach and scope. They have widened that impact on land supply: the to include things like green belts, Local Government Act, the Resource urban limits, height restrictions, Management Act and the Land The high cost of building designs, maximum Transport Management Act. densities, minimum parking housing comes requirements, historic buildings and In addition to the complexity of off the back character preservation, and many rules, the funding for infrastructure more. is not always straightforward. Large of sustained and long-term investments need excess demand Rules and principles originally to be matched up with long-term designed to make cities better funding. for housing, places, have now become the both as shackles that are preventing cities Often, transport assets are built from reaching their potential. This is and maintained by different shelter and an true for those wanting to live in the authorities and there isn’t always investment.” city, and for those living in suburban harmonious coordination between housing because they want space them. Highways and bridges tend and distance from the city. to be the responsibility of central government, while local roads and These regulatory structures are fairly water infrastructure (drinking water, uniform throughout New Zealand, sewerage and storm water) sit with although their local applications can local government – and there are vary greatly. This has not historically often fights about who should pay been much of a problem, because for what. there has been little population growth to test the regulations that The regulatory complexity constrain growth. But in strongly or created by these acts and funding suddenly growing markets, like we mechanisms means that it is

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 40 Local government and the housing crisis

conceptually and practically difficult growth to the place that generated to supply land quickly and easily. it. Unless the costs and benefits Until policy can be better aligned and of growth are shared fairly, there streamlined, land supply will remain will always be an undersupply of slow. infrastructure and housing.

Solutions Local government should use There is a failure to think long-term inclusionary zoning, where a set by both local and central government. proportion of any new development Local authorities are not the only ones has to be affordable housing held responsible for the housing crisis, in trust for those in need, and the but they can do a lot. What follows is developer compensated through Slow supply of a short but not comprehensive list of greater density. solutions for local government’s role Local government should reassess new housing in the housing crisis. the best use of its land holdings. For is a major Local authorities can plan for lots of example, Auckland Council owns the challenge population growth and make rezoning land for 13 golf courses, despite golf and one that and infrastructure supply contingent being a dying sport globally and there on that, rather than the current being an urgent need for social and is squarely situation where we don’t plan for affordable housing. aimed at local the growth we have and end up with shortages. Local government may also need government.” to evaluate which of its designated Local authorities should also use ‘heritage’ sites truly merit their targeted debt – something that could protections and which ones can be help transfer the cost of current built over. Buildings that can still be investment to future generations used should not be torn down, but who will also benefit from the asset. not every functional building is worth The political reality is that borrowing retaining solely for aesthetic reasons. is often unpopular, and many fast- growing councils already have too Rules can encourage land (including much debt. vacant land) to be better used – taxing land (including vacant land) more As a result, investment in heavily than structures, for example. infrastructure tends to persistently When taxes are much higher for land undershoot planned investment by than structures, there is an incentive local authorities. to make sure there are lots of income Central government needs to return earning structures on that land to pay more of the benefits of economic for that tax and maximise profits. 

41 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing “Our house is overflowing with adults and kids squashed into tiny rooms as they cannot save for a house deposit or find a decent flat in central Wellington.”

“As I have reached my fifties, the quakes set us back at least ten years. We didn't own a house when the earthquakes hit and we were stung with massive increases in rent.”

“I work full time and sometimes can't eat because I might only have $20 to feed two people for two weeks. I am paying rent to a millionaire yet my bathroom window is nearly falling out due to rotting wood.”

Source: PSA survey of Wellington and Christchurch members on housing, March 2017 The Human Right to Adequate Housing

In 1972, when Elvis Presley’s “In the them. Ghetto” was a number one hit in New Zealand, my home was an adequate The most basic minimum human house in Patea, Taranaki. I was glad I rights standards have been discussed wasn’t living in a ghetto in Chicago. I and written down and countries, was glad that the idea of ghetto was including New Zealand, have agreed something none of us would stand for to follow them. They have become here in New Zealand. international law. Successive New Zealand governments have committed Forty years later when I read a report us to abide by these international laws, describing the clustering of low- and thus to respect, protect and fulfil David Rutherford income renters in the Auckland1, I our human rights in New Zealand. thought again of Elvis’s song, and the David Rutherford was The role of the NZ Human Rights lines: appointed Chief Human Commission is to hold the state to Rights Commissioner on account for the promises they have September 2011. “Take a look at you and me, Are we too blind to see, made to protect the human rights of Prior to his appointment, Do we simply turn our heads people in New Zealand. he was the managing And look the other way?” director of Special For decades all sides of our political Olympics Asia Pacific We – government, all political parties, spectrum have made promises and based in Singapore. public and private agencies, you and about adequately housing New I – need to turn our heads together Zealanders and yet no side has yet toward the people. We need to work delivered adequate housing to all together to ensure everyone in New New Zealanders. In 1948, the New Zealand has an adequate home to live Zealand Government of the time in. We must leave nobody behind. helped to draft and promised to fulfil the right to adequate housing Responsibilities in Article 25.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. From the start of our lives there are certain things our governments must Since then, we have signed a to do to help us reach our potential multitude of international covenants – things they have promised to the aimed at eliminating discrimination world they will do for each of us. These in the provision of housing and expectations and claims we have of requiring the state to provide our elected representatives are called housing for our most vulnerable human rights. Every single person has people.

1. NZ Productivity Commission (2012), “Housing Affordability Inquiry”, http://www.produc- tivity.govt.nz/sites/default/files/Final%20Housing%20Affordability%20Report_0.pdf

43 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing The Human Right to Adequate Housing

The most recent expression of The Human Rights Commission our Government’s commitment to argues that we need a New ensuring adequate housing for all Zealand ‘Homes Accord’ that all New Zealanders is found in the2 political parties sign up to and that Sustainable Development goals, commits them to providing all New targets and indicators contained Zealanders with an adequate home. in the 2015 UN Global Agenda ‘Adequate housing’ has been well 2030. We signed up to these goals, defined in international human including SDG 11 – “to make cities rights law.3 and human settlements inclusive, We believe a Homes Accord should safe, resilient and sustainable”. Part be based around the UN indicia of of SDG Target 11.1 is: “to by 2030, adequate housing and apply right ensure access for all to adequate, across the spectrum of housing. safe and affordable housing.” It means ensuring everyone has We appear to We appear to have a “what goes somewhere affordable, secure, safe, on tour, stays on tour” approach warm and dry to live and grow up. have a “what to our international human The indicia are: goes on tour, rights commitments. Those in the • Security of Tenure political sphere are good at making stays on tour” international promises about • Habitability approach to our adequate housing in New Zealand, • Accessibility international but when push comes to shove, • Affordability human rights what is actually being delivered? • Availability of services, Since 1948, New Zealand materials, facilities and commitments.” governments have promised infrastructure internationally repeatedly to • Location deliver adequate houses to all New Zealanders and yet they have failed Cultural Adequacy. to deliver. The reality is that it will It’s clear to me that the only way our likely take longer than any single political parties can deliver adequate electoral cycle to deliver adequate housing is by working together. This housing to all New Zealanders. will mean leaving egos, political

2. United Nations Development Programme http://www.undp.org/content/undp/ en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html 3. The Human Right to Adequate Housing in New Zealand, New Zealand Human Rights Commission: https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/1214/2681/4255/Right_to_Hous- ing_Flyer_FINAL__2.pdf

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 44 The Human Right to Adequate Housing

point-scoring and ‘beef’ at the door. house – enables. Imagine if every Our political representatives will parent and every child had the chance never deliver adequate housing if they we had, because we had an adequate continue working apart. house to call our home.

Finally, I want to share with you why I believe that our tamariki and all of us ensuring all New Zealanders have will only have the opportunity to have an adequate home matters so much a home that is an adequate house if all to me. I write as the son of Irish and of our political parties bind themselves Welsh immigrants to this great country, to a New Zealand Homes Accord. And I Aotearoa New Zealand. Because of believe they should do that now. my parents’ courage I was born here. The homes I was brought up in were Mā te mahi ngātahi, The role adequate houses in Te Aroha and Patea ka tū te rongomau because the Education Board supplied ka tiaki te mana of the NZ them to my teacher father. o ia tangata Human Rights o ia hapori This year my father passed away. On Kia ora. Whanau ora.  Commission the way to Hawera for his funeral, is to hold I stopped at Patea and saw the two schools I learned in, the rugby grounds the state to I played on, the church I prayed at and account for the the two houses I called home. I also thought of the iwi, whose korowai of promises they aroha has always cloaked my family, have made to particularly my father and I in tough times. protect the I took this photo of the adequate house human rights (the blue one) that was the home my of people in parents brought our family up in when we lived in Patea. Those parents, that New Zealand.” home, and that community brought up a Sydney-based software developer and now-builder, a Taranaki dairy farmer farming on Māori owned land, a Cannons Creek kindergarten teacher and me.

I want all of our tamariki to have the opportunity that a home – an adequate

45 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Our contributors

Philippa Howden- Professor John Dr Jess Alan Chapman Tookey Berentson-Shaw Johnson Philippa Howden- Professor John Tookey Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw Alan currently works as Chapman is a professor is Director CUBE-NZ, is a science researcher a social policy analyst of public health at the at Auckland University working for the Morgan for The Salvation University of Otago’s of Technology’s School Foundation. Jess Army’s Social Policy & Wellington campus. of Engineering. His holds a PhD in Health Parliamentary Unit. He Psychology from Victoria is author of Off The She is director of He areas of expertise University. Jess has over Track, The Salvation Kainga Oranga/ Housing include: Construction 10 years’ experience Army’s 2017 State of the and Health Research management, logistics, working on applying Nation Report. Programme and the SCM. Productivity, science and evidence to New Zealand Centre for procurement, building In his spare time he is public policy. Sustainable Cities. costs and BIM. a community activist His current research She worked on in South Auckland projects include improving the use where he is active as an an Economic of science in public administrator in local Evaluation of Zero health practice in NZ, sports clubs and as a Waste Construction before working as a school trustee. He has (BRANZ / Winstone Research Fellow at also held positions as a Wallboards) and a University College in trustee of the Auckland study into Transaction London, where she Community Housing Costs economics in researched how doctors Trust and as the Chair construction. and clinicians translate of Community Housing scientific evidence into Aotearoa. their clinical practice.

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 46 Our contributors

Bill Jade Victoria Dr Esther McKay Kake Crockford Woodbury Bill McKay is an Jade Kake (Ngāpuhi, Victoria Crockford is the Dr Esther Woodbury architectural historian, Te Whakatōhea, Director of Outreach joined the Disabled critic and commentator Te Arawa) is an and Engagement for The People’s Assembly in based at the University architectural designer, Collective Project. 2016. She has previously worked as a disability of Auckland’s School housing advocate, and As an Arrowtown- advisor for government of Architecture and researcher. based writer, analyst Planning. agencies, and spent a Her organisation, Te and strategist Vic works long time studying at His recent books Matapihi, works to across a number of various universities and include a history of state advance Maori housing channels, writing for The working as a tutor and housing, Beyond the outcomes at a national Spinoff, The Wireless researcher. State: NZ State Houses level through systems and for her clients. from Modest to Modern advocacy, sector (a 2014 NZ Post Book development, policy, and Awards finalist). He research. discusses urban issues fortnightly on RNZ’s Nine to Noon show.

47 Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing Our contributors

Dr Andrew Robert Shamubeel David Coleman Whitaker Eaqub Rutherford Andrew Coleman has Robert is a designer Shamubeel is an David Rutherford was half-time positions and activist living in economist, columnist appointed Chief Human at the University of Wellington with his and author. Rights Commissioner on Otago, where he growing family. In September 2011. Prior to He works at Sense teaches economics, 2014 he helped found his appointment, he was Partners, a boutique and at the Productivity Renters United, a the managing director economics consultancy. Commission. new campaigning of Special Olympics organisation for renters He lives in Auckland Asia Pacific and based in From 2008 – 2016 in Wellington and across with his wife and son. Singapore. he researched the the country. interactions between taxes, housing markets, and retirement schemes at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research and the New Zealand Treasury, and in 2011 he was a member of the Saving Working Group.

Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on housing 48 Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi

The PSA is New Zealand's largest union, representing over 62,000 workers in central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups. We're proud of our history of sponsoring and publishing writing and thinking on the role and health of the state. Over the past decade this has included: • Re-imaging Government – Putting people at the heart of New Zealand’s Public Sector (commissioned in 2006 from UK think tank Demos) • Reviving the Public – A new governance and management model for public services (commissioned in 2006 from David Coats of the UK’s Work Foundation) • The Chief Executive as Employer: Reinforcing the New Public Management Silos (paper presented by G. Barclay & B. Pilott in 2008 at the After the Reforms conference) • State of the Future – strong public services for tough times (published in 2009 in response to the global financial crisis) • Why We Need Public Spending (commissioned in 2010 from David Hall of Greenwich University) • Modern Public Services (policy paper series published in 2011) • Rethinking the State Sector Act (published in 2014 in collaboration with the New Zealand Fabian Society) • Progressive thinking: ten perspectives on tax. (published in 2017)

Freephone: 0508 367 772 E-mail: [email protected] Stand Together Postal Address: PSA, for a better working life PO Box 3817, Wellington 6140 Website: www.psa.org.nz www.standtogether.co.nz