Representatives from Piri’anga Alofa Pacific and Community Services appeared before a parliamentary select committee this week to voice their opposition to the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill which they say, will see an extreme uptake of families in emergency housing.

Piri’anga Alofa Pacific and Community Services based in Porirua has provided services by Pacific people for Pacific People for the past 15 years as part of Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens.

The Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill would re-introduce ‘no cause evictions’ removing the requirement for landlords to provide a reason when terminating a tenancy. Notice times would also be reduced when landlords want to sell their rental property.

Community Services Senior Lead Caroline Mareko says that because of the lack of affordable rental properties, this Bill will certainly lead to an increase in the need for emergency housing. She points out that a decrease in renters’ rights will jeopardise government objectives such as improving educational attainment, reducing truancy, reducing crime, reducing gang numbers and moving people off benefits and into jobs.

“If a family is not suffering from housing stress, if they have a secure, safe warm home, they can instead turn their attention to other goals such as education, training, getting out of debt, improving house status, saving, even home ownership”. Caroline said.

“Many families we look after are already living in emergency housing, some of them for up to three years now. Families are split up because one motel room can’t accommodate a large family and the motels often expose children to domestic violence and crime from other tenants”.

Community Navigators Moamoa Faleafaga and Leia Euta spoke of tenancy struggles within their communities with many clients failing to find accommodation after losing tenancies and ending up in over-crowded or unsuitable housing. Children are uprooted from schools and early childhood services, having to leave friends and introduce themselves to new children and teachers.

“There is a fear among families in our communities that they may be evicted at any moment because they are at the mercy of landlords. There is a major power imbalance here and our tamariki bear the brunt of it,” said Leia Euta.

“We need to improve life for renters in many areas - we need all rents to be affordable, we need to ensure houses are available that cater to the cultural, multi-generational needs of our families. We need more properties available to rent by increasing social housing. We need to ensure housing meets the healthy homes standards. And we need to make sure tenants can get problems sorted without fear of eviction”.

© Scoop Media