Rental homes scarce
LYNDAL JEFFERIES
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A RENTAL property drought is hitting Waiheke long before the summer season has even started.
Well-maintained three-bedroom homes in the $300 to $350 a week price range are scarce with renters having to opt for smaller properties, higher rents or leaving the island altogether.
One family of six has resorted to renting a small two-bedroom house and placing a caravan outside for two teenage boys to sleep in.
"I looked at 30 places before I found this one. They were slums worse than you can ever imagine – damp, mould, no sun, cold and uninsulated," mum Angie Ball says.
When she was looking for a house she says Work and Income New Zealand suggested she move off the island to find a cheaper place to rent. Mrs Ball says she has a joint custody agreement with her former partner on the island so she needs to stay.
The house she is in was the "best she could find" and there were at least 10 other applicants wanting it.
Ms Ball has been looking for another property for six months but has not found anything else.
Work and Income New Zealand says it does not encourage people to leave Waiheke.
"We do not encourage anyone to rent a substandard property and WINZ does not encourage people to leave their area of residence," Auckland regional commissioner for social development Isabel Evans says. "In some cases this may be discussed as part of a range of options, depending on the client's circumstances."
Real estate letting agent Eileen Courtney-McDowell has been in the business for 11 years.
"Low income families are being squeezed out in a process of gentrification."
Over the years she has seen higher numbers of tenants competing for fewer properties and says there may be fewer available now because owners are using short-term booking services like Book a Bach.
Ms Courtney-McDowell is also concerned that there is often no suitable short-term accommodation available for people working in the island in the service industry over summer.
Bayleys letting agent Linda Powell has no properties to offer for long-term tenants in the average three-bedroom price range.
She has some that are only available until Christmas.
But she says there is a positive side to renting on Waiheke because many homes have "great views, close access to the beach and most rents are a lot less than a mortgage".
But Waiheke has a glut of two-bedroom uninsulated baches, Ms Powell says.
Leigh Alexander of Waiheke Budgeting Services says the higher costs of food, petrol and commuting on Waiheke may make it too expensive for low and middle income earners to live on the island.
She encourages property owners to "entrust their empty properties to our quality letting agents and free up some homes for rental that would otherwise be standing empty".
Work and Income New Zealand says beneficiary numbers on the island have dropped from 1003 in 2005 to 974 this year.
- Waiheke Marketplace
