Rental Housing
Our research looks at the quality of rental housing and the experience of renting, and how it can be improved.
Cold New Zealand council housing getting an upgrade
A study just published in the journal Policy Quarterly, led by Lara Rangiwhetu from He Kainga Oranga / Housing and Health Research Programme at the University of Otago, Wellington, has looked at 49 homes in Council Housing in Wellington (pre-upgrade) and confirmed that they were too cold.
Council housing upgrades
Lara Rangiwhetu’s PhD research looks at the impact of council housing upgrades on tenants. For more information, read here.
The regulation of private rental housing
Sarah Bierre’s research looks at the quality of private rental housing, the regulation of the private rental market, and the functioning of the Tenancy Tribunal. Her research on private rental housing includes:
- Bierre, S., Mark, B., Howden-Chapman, P. 2014. Decent Expectations? The Use and Interpretation of Housing Standards in Tenancy Tribunals in New Zealand. New Zealand University Law Review Vol,26 No2, PP153-185
- “The Houses People Live In” [pdf],Policy Quarterly, Volume 9, Issue 2, May 2013.
- “Building Inequality” in Inequality: A New Zealand Conversation(Bridget Williams, 2013)
- “Unaffordable and Unhealthy” in Homes People Can Afford (Steele Roberts, 2013)
- Constructing housing quality, health, and private rental housing: a critical analysis(PhD thesis, 2008)
Libby Grant’s Masters research looks at the impact of regulations on housing quality.
- More details: A Comparison of the Structure and Regulation of the Private Rental Housing Market in New Zealand and several OECD countries
Improving rental housing
The rental housing Warrant of Fitness (WoF) a tool designed to measure housing features that have an impact on health, safety and energy efficiency.
- More details: Rental housing Warrant of Fitness research page
Elinor Chisholm’s PhD research was completed in 2015. It looks at how individual and collective action by renters contributes to improving rental housing.