Election 2023 - Housing: Nurturing the ownership dream in times of crisis
Kataraina Murrays young age hasnt stopped her from carefully mapping out her financial future, and home ownership is at the heart of the Patea teens pathway to prosperity. It's fair to say this 17-year-old intends to go places, already working part-time while juggling her Year 13 studies at Patea Area School. When she finishes her education in a few months time, shell head into full-time mahi with a focus on saving money, priming her to take her first step onto the property ladder as soon as she can afford it. I definitely want to own my own home. In her eyes, home ownership is the most achievable way to build wealth and give her opportunities to realise other ambitions, including travel. Another of her aims was to own other properties and become a landlord, as a means to offer good housing to others. Everyone needs help. Everyone needs a house. Taranaki is not immune to the nations housing crisis, which has only been compounded by the increased cost of living, supply chain shortages and stagnant wage growth. As outlined in the regions housing plan, the biggest challenges for the province is the lack of overarching strategy to address the issue, no concrete idea of what the future forecast looked like in terms of supply and demand, and what types of homes best met population need. For Murray, who grew up in a home where finances were tight and housing wasnt always stable, the idea of having a rental portfolio wasnt about getting rich at the expense of others. It was about passing on the chance to offer long-term, safe accommodation to people who would never be able to buy their own homes. We survived and always had a roof over our head, which Im grateful for. While confident of her pathway ahead, the teen can already see some headwinds on the horizon. She believed New Zealands economic conditions were likely to get worse, which was a worry. Another major concern was climate change and what this would mean for the health of the planet. In fact, its the main reason she doesnt think she will have children. As the general election looms large, politics is something the teen will follow. She said there was often debates around the kitchen table with her whanau about some of the policy promises being served up. While not able to vote yet, shes on the fence about whether she will do so once she turned 18, as one of criticisms she had is the gap between party rhetoric and what happened in reality. Regardless of whether she chooses to exercise her democratic right, Murray believed those in power had to keep the powerless at the forefront of their thinking. The government itself needs to think about the lowest of the low people. I think we need to be more people-centred. She has a point. Despite home ownership being a core facet of New Zealands much vaunted egalitarian identity, houses in Aotearoa are among the least affordable in the world. While affordability has improved in the last six months and there are vast regional differences, those getting onto the housing ladder now have it tougher than previous generations. The latest CoreLogic figures show nationally it takes an average 9.6 years to save a typical deposit. The long term average is 8.1 years. In New Plymouth, where the average property value is $713,833 and the average household income is $112,064, its 8.5 to save the typical deposit. In terms of value-to-income ratio, which is traditionally seen as a measure of affordability, this sits at 6.4, well above the districts 4.9 average. Its similar in Stratford where the value to income ratio is 6, 50% above its long term average of 4. In South Taranaki the value to income ratio is one of the lowest in the country. But even at 4.3 its still nearly 50% more than its 2.9 long term average. Affordable housing isnt just a problem for the poor, but increasingly the middle class as well. Given its widespread impact, housing is one of the core issues in the 2023 election campaign. National is all about cutting red tape and getting councils to unlock land for 30 years worth of development. It wants to create a $1 billion fund to incentivise councils that deliver more, new housing, coming at the expense of its political rivals KiwiBuild programme, which failed to live up to its initial promise. As for Labours plan, it wants to fast track the generation of affordable housing, through its $3.8b acceleration fund. It is focused on increasing the social and transitional housing stock, as well as boosting the construction workforce, to ensure the necessary skills are there to meet building demand. But for Te Pati Maori co-leader, and Te Tai Hauauru candidate Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, her partys plan for housing starts much earlier, and it means lifting people out of poverty. If our rangatahi want to have a chance at owning their own home, they need to really consider who they are going to vote into Government and who the different parties or policies are going to serve. Her partys goal was to lessen the pain of poverty which affected many Maori. Focussing on addressing poverty will equate to more people being able to provide homes, as well as healthier and more suitable homes for their whanau. Ngarewa-Packer says she wanted to see fewer empty properties within the Te Tai Hauauru rohe, which covers Taranaki, along with more houses which are both accessible and affordable. Marion Sanson, of the Greens, says her partys number one priority is to create more affordable housing either through new builds or fixing existing homes. My vision is that everyone lives in a safe, warm, dry, affordable home and this is seen as a fundamental human right. Sanson is working to build party support within the Whanganui electorate this election, which covers South Taranaki and Stratford, and is a seat currently held by Labour. She says the Green Party also wants to see rental warrant of fitnesses for properties introduced to ensure they are free of hazards and had regular maintenance checks. For young people like Murray, Sanson backed her goal of owning her own whare 100%, but one of the Greens goals was to put the brakes on people profiting off residential property ownership, in order to curtail homes being considered someone elses nest egg. For Taranaki-King Country MP, National's Barbara Kuriger, and her party colleague David MacLeod, who will contest the New Plymouth seat, removing the red tape councils faced in terms of freeing up land for housing was a priority. Rural stalwart Kuriger, who is seeking re-election, says getting people into warm, dry places to live, even if it was social housing, was a must as there were too many examples of people living in cars. MacLeod agrees, as he puts stock in social housing developments in New Plymouth, like the joint Soho/Kainga Ora three-storey complex on Leach St, which he says had been a long time coming. Ensuring we all have warm houses to go home to is a cornerstone of a caring community. We are a small country, we should be able to provide for all of our people. MacLeod said infrastructure around new builds is also important to consider, especially in terms of roading networks. In the Labour camp, New Plymouth MP Glen Bennett and Angela Roberts, who was a list MP this term, said addressing the housing crisis involves a multi-pronged attack. They both see collaboration as the key, with central government working alongside district councils, iwi, social services and property developers to come up with solutions which work best for their communities. Bennett says it is also important to give younger people a chance to buy their own home, as this had been on the decline. Only 35% of those aged 25 to 34 were owner-occupiers in 2018, down from 65% in 1988. Meanwhile, Roberts says there also needs to be a concerted effort to have all older, unhealthy homes either done up, or completely replaced. We need to improve not only the quantity but also the quality of our homes.