Kerre Woodham: Could long term rentals help solve our housing crisis?

A new paper from the OECD has shown New Zealand has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the developed world, with more than two percent of New Zealanders recorded as being homeless. And that's the highest population percentage recorded of any country in the developed block being measured.

Although New Zealand's broad definition of homelessness kind of snookered us, and helped us gain another unwanted top spot, our figures include refugees and asylum seekers looking for temporary accommodation, as well as victims of domestic violence. It also included children and people living in uninhabitable housing. Housing that's not up to scratch. And most of the other countries do not include these groups.

Heather Du Plessis-Allan: The Tenancy Tribunal overrides contracts in favour of tenants

You want a perfect example of the kind of rules that people think are good for tenants, but actually end up backfiring on them?

The two rulings that allowed tenants to keep pets despite explicit agreements that they wouldn’t, in both cases.

In the first case, a woman moved in to a property in Palmerston North. Landlord says the tenancy agreement “specifically excluded pets”.

Kate Hawkesby: There is a disturbing entrenchment happening in regard to benefits

 

A landlord wrote to me the other day saying how many more tenants these days are applying for rentals, and on the application form are putting under proof of income, ‘WINZ’.

Her point was, since when was a WINZ benefit, which is supposed to be a short term solution for people in difficult circumstances, since when has that become an income?

Bob Jones: More bogus human rights nonsense

Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt stated last week, “many renters are having to make trade-offs between their fundamental human rights, such as the right to adequate food and the right to a decent home. A home is first and foremost a fundamental human right and not an investment,” he repeated. This garbage is fairy tale nonsense.

He continued on…referring to a non-existent country he called Aotearoa NZ, Hunt claimed it’s in breach of a “legally binding international human rights obligation.” What this agreement was he didn’t advise, but probably he was referring to the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That was simply a wish list of perceived desirable aspirations and as such worthy.

My complaint is the word “Rights.” Saying someone has a human right to something implies that someone or something else has an obligation to provide it and therein lies the problem.

Point of Order: Govt announces new transport and rental housing initiatives and enthuses about human rights

But without mentioning voting rights

The big announcement from the Beehive so far today is that workers and public transport users are at the heart of a new approach to public transport branded the Sustainable Public Transport Framework.

This is great news, although when you take workers and public transport users out of considerations it is hard to find too many other interested parties, besides politicians and administrators.