In the face of disaster, rent increases are a choice / A.J. Hendry

For whānau already on the edge, rent increases may be just enough to push them over. With the threat of rent increases looming, Government intervention is needed...

The recent climate catastrophe in Auckland has put huge pressure on whānau living in the city. Many have been forced out of their homes because of the flooding, belongings destroyed, their lives uprooted in an instant.

It’s pretty safe to say that things are hard at the moment, for a lot of people.

And yet for renter’s, things are potentially about to get a whole lot harder.

Kristin Sutherland, President of the Auckland Property Investors Association has warned that rents could very likely increase in response to the decrease in housing stock in Auckland. Not because of a rise in interest rates or other factors, but simply because, well that’s the market.

What I find most interesting about Sutherlands comments is the assumption she makes that the markets are some Divine Instrument outside of human control.

Essentially she’s saying that, 'Rents will increase not because landlords are seeking to make a profit, but because of “supply and demand”.

What we're being asked to believe is that this is something that just happens, and that really, there is nothing anyone can do about that.

Markets do what markets do.

But, when we talk about markets in such a way, we obscure the reality.

The truth that markets respond to human choices. And that people can make different ones.

Landlords are not powerless, those who choose to raise rent because of a decrease in housing are doing so because they can see that people are desperate, and because they know that due to lack of housing availability, people will have no choice but to pay what the landlords demand.

That's supply and demand.

It's a choice to exploit a gap, to profit from another's need.

Now, perhaps with some other products this sort of behaviour wouldn't be such a big deal. Let’s say there’s a shortage of chocolate. So sure it’s in demand, people love it, raise the price, make a profit. But, chocolates a luxury. We’re talking about housing.

If I don’t get a block of chocolate, I’m not going to sleep on the street tonight. Nor be emotionally and mentally scarred, I won’t have to face the reality of what homelessness means for my kids, or have to deal with the impact transience has on my whānau.

But, if myself and my whānau do not have access to housing, if we can’t afford that most basic human right, if we and are forced into emergency accommodation, that has truly horrific and serious consequences.

Because, housing isn’t a commodity, it is a basic human right and an absolute necessity for human beings to thrive within our society.

This looming threat, this warning that rents may rise in response to the devastating natural disaster Auckland has just experienced, on top of the rising cost of living, on top of the pressure people are under due to the Covid, it all only highlights the immorality of the system itself.

This system that deifies the markets, and places corporate and individual greed as a moral imperative.

Housing isn’t a nice to have, and the financial interests of individuals or corporates, should not win out against the right our people have to be housed.

We need to be clear about the consequences here if rents continue to rise in response to the climate catastrophe many in Auckland have just experienced.

If landlords choose to raise rents in response to the decrease in housing stock, that will mean added pressure for whānau who are already struggling.

For those who were already on the edge, it may even be enough to push some whānau into long term experiences of homelessness, with rental’s becoming unattainable.

The compassionate and ethical thing to do would be for landlords to make the choice not to raise rents.

And yet, if "the markets" lack the empathy and human decency required to ensure this human right is upheld, than what we require from our Government is action. To regulate rent, to impose a rent freeze, to ensure our basic human rights are upheld.

This week, over 23 organizations (including Renters United, Action Station, Manaaki Rangatahi and many others) have called on the newly appointed Minister for Auckland, Minister Wood, to ensure that a rent freeze is put in place to protect renters.

Geordie Rogers of Renter’s United warned, that without protection, whānau were at risk of being priced out of their communities. “There are families where parents are working two jobs, during the day and night,” he shared in an interview with StuffNZ “and driving for Uber in the weekend just to pay their rent which takes up 70% of their income.”

With the recent refresh within the Government, Labour have begun to re: present themselves as the party for the working class. The party for the people. The party, that is going to prioritize the “bread and butter” issues that will support the working class. Well, in the current economic climate, and in light of the recent climate catastrophe that has just ravished Auckland, a rent freeze is the working-class call.

Housing is a basic human right, one we should all have access to. Let's not be fooled by the language of markets, or the subterfuge of "supply and demand".

In the face of climate catastrophe, raising rent is a choice.

Our landlords can choose to make a different one.

A.J. Hendry is a Laidlaw College graduate, and a Youth Development Worker and housing advocate, working in the Youth Housing and Homelessness space. He leads a service supporting rangatahi experiencing homelessness and is also an advocate working collectively to end youth homelessness in Aotearoa. He is also the curator and creator of When Lambs Are Silent. 

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