Home is where a house sitter is
There is a way for those without a home to have a place to lay their heads.
Saving hundreds of dollars a week is motivating some to choose homelessness — but they are not going without a bed.
A growing number of Kiwis are tapping into perpetual house sitting — bouncing from one place to another rather than renting or trying to buy.
New Zealand’s largest house sitting website, Kiwi House Sitters, recorded about 6000 house sits in the past year. Up to 700 of the listed 4500 house sitters do it full time.
Rowena Baines and her Argentinian partner Tomas Brescacin have been house sitting full time for more than three years. They do it so they can make documentaries and films without being paid and go on international aid missions.
But it’s not an easy life.
The couple have two carloads of possessions, including all the food they make from scratch — kombucha, sourdough starter, preserved lemons and jars of grains and seeds.
“House sitting has really allowed me to follow my heart and intuition and not have to be thinking about huge overheads of rent, electricity,” Baines said.
She is making an unfunded film about the women who pose for the artistic community of Waiheke.
“But it’s really funny actually, it’s a huge ordeal . . . I really feel like a nomad in my own town.”
The first thing Brescacin, 31, unpacks in a new house is a box with a colourful blanket Baines gave him and a sculpture from Tonga. Then the house feels like home.
The couple shoulder the responsibility seriously. They have shovelled scoria in the middle of the night when floods hit Waiheke and Baines, 42, develops such an attachment to the pets they mind, she’ll go back and walk the dog after they’ve moved out.
Baines grew up with her mum who ran a 5-star bed and breakfast, so she has an extremely high standard of housekeeping.
“We’re looking after people’s houses and treating them like our own. When we leave the house we leave it absolutely pristine.”
House sitting was all about trust and could only exist in first world countries, Baines said.
“I still find it fascinating. There’s this beautiful trust thing. People say, ‘I have a need, you have a need, let’s help each other out’.”
Sophie Kynman-Cole and her partner Josh Hayward-Fogg, both 26, have bounced between seven house sits since May.
They decided to try it when they moved to Auckland after travelling and didn’t have many possessions — and wanted to save money.
Kynman-Cole, who is a ecological restorative field worker, estimated they save about $400 a week on rent and bills.
“Our belongings are pretty minimal so moving around is easy enough. We also enjoy being around pets.
“We stay in some really lovely homes that are fully set up for us and it means our living costs are hugely reduced.”
The most difficult part was committing to looking after animals, so not having flexibility to go away for the weekend. They also only buy groceries they need short term, so they don’t have the luxury of stocking up on items, Kynman-Cole said.
AUT professor of sociology Charles Crothers is sure the rise in house sitters correlates to the housing crisis and said people have been finding “creative ways” to shelter themselves for decades.
He pointed out it had similarities to the phenomenon of couch surfing (where travellers spend a few nights for free on a host’s couch), squatting (occupying a vacant house) and WWOOFing (volunteering on organic farms in exchange for accommodation).
“It’s very much to be welcomed. There are quite a few thousand empty homes in Auckland. If house sitters move into some of those it’d be so much better.”
“I really feel like a nomad in my own town.” Rowena Baines