NZ ‘too big for itself too soon’
Julia Frelan, of Nga¯ puhi, lost her home in 2009 after two serious medical events in her family. Now she feels she’s ‘‘drowning’’ in her own country. Geraden Cann reports.
A Nga¯ puhi woman who has been priced out of ever owning another home says she feels the housing crisis has destroyed her sense of identity.
Julia Frelan lost her family home in 2009 after her husband had a stroke, one of her children was hospitalised, and debt from a failed business venture resulted in her declaring bankruptcy.
In the years since, the Auckland woman has been mostly working as a therapy assistant but has never managed to get back on the ladder. She regained her credit rating but watched as house prices moved increasingly beyond reach.
Frelan’s family tree shows her as the great-greatgranddaughter of chief Kamariera Te Hautakiri Wharepapa, who famously travelled to England in 1863, met Queen Victoria, and returned with an English bride.
Frelan also said she is descended from Ho¯ ne Heke Po¯ kai, who famously took an axe to the flagstaff at
Waitangi after becoming frustrated with the Treaty process.
With an ancestry brimming with strong characters, Frelan said she had the same resilience.
However, she said exclusion from home ownership had cost her family their identity.
‘‘My big thing is identity, I think as far as being a Kiwi in New Zealand – it’s gone. I’ve lost it,’’ she said.
‘‘I feel like I’m drowning in my own country. I don’t mind who buys what, but there’s been a huge change.
‘‘I feel like New Zealand has got too big for itself too soon.’’
The 65-year-old said the Government’s recent housing policy announcements helped her little. She would like the Government to be more vocal about backing renters if investors attempt to recoup lost profits via rent increases.
Concerned by announcements from economist Tony Alexander that 74 per cent of investors
surveyed are now planning to raise rents, Frelan said she wants the Government to create policy that acts as a safety net.
She said she wants to see rental caps imposed if rents jump, adding that the only way she will ever get back on the ladder is if the Government creates more rent-to-buy schemes.
Nga¯ puhi home ownership is among the lowest of any demographic cohort.
A 2019 report by Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities titled Homeless and landless in two generations – Averting the Ma¯ ori housing disaster found that in 1936, 71 per cent of Ma¯ ori lived in dwellings owned by their wha¯ nau.
By 1991, the ownership rate had fallen to 56 per cent, by 2013 it was at 43 per cent, and by May 2019 it was likely below 40 per cent.
The report reads: ‘‘If
homeownership continues to decline at the rate it has been falling since 1991 Ma¯ ori will almost be entirely renters by 2061. This would be a social and economic disaster.’’
On the rental front,
Ma¯ ori people are also among the most likely ethnic groups to live in a damp and mouldy homes. Only Pasifika people scored worse.
Before his stroke in 1998, Frelan’s husband had been a wharfie for 20 years and made good money, allowing the family of four to buy their first home in the Auckland suburb of Westmere in the 1970s.
When the stroke hit the
family had grown by another son, and they were living in a large house in Glen Eden. Frelan remembers it as a scary time.
She took a job as a therapy assistant helping at Auckland City Hospital, and after a few years decided to try her hand at business, becoming a partner in a lunch bar.
Just two weeks later, another serious illness hit the Frelan family.
The business struggled, and when a neighbouring gas station tore up the forecourt, Frelan said things went from bad to worse.
‘‘After eight months I turned around to the
partner and said ‘I’ve had enough. Before we get further into debt, I suggest we shut this thing’.’’
A $10,000 loan grew as Frelan failed to make payments. By the end, Frelan said she had paid $56,000 to the lender and the family home was sold for $385,000 to service the debt.
‘‘It was quite depressing to see it disintegrate, how quickly it disintegrates,’’ she said.
‘‘Once upon a time I could walk out, and down the street, and say ‘ah – I love that house. I think I might buy it!’ But I can’t do that now.
‘‘Different Governments that have come in have made promises, and they turn out to be empty promises.
‘‘I would prefer to leave this Earth with something that’s tangible for my family, rather than living in someone else’s home.’’
‘Different Governments that have come in have made promises, and they turn out to be empty promises.’ JULIA FRELAN