Need hits home in Rolleston
A dire lack of social housing and rentals in Rolleston has left some on the brink of homelessness and others forced to leave the town.
Rolleston has experienced a population explosion, with its population soaring from 3230 people two decades ago to 28,000 last year. Home building has matched the growth.
However, there are just 24 Kāinga Ora homes for those in housing need – and the council has no plans for any of its own.
When Kelly* first moved to Rolleston in 2013, she and her then-husband paid $340 a week for a three-bedroom home.
They have since split, and she pays $510 for a three-bedroom home.
She chooses between paying her power bill or putting food in the cupboard. She cannot afford firewood so has gone “cold the whole of winter”.
She works 65 hours a week as a truck driver. The plus side: She stays warm.
Kelly has tried to look for somewhere cheaper in Rolleston to live, but she’s met with “100 other people” at open homes. “It’s not very often that somewhere pops up that I can apply for that’s in my price range. I’m just trying to keep a roof over my head.”
As of May, the median market weekly rent for a Rolleston home was $650, according to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment. Christchurch city’s was $550.
Sheree Kerr and her four children were evicted from their Rolleston home in March due to the landlord's family moving in. She looked at “every single house there was” until she was forced to move to Leeston, more than 20 minutes’ drive away.
She pays the same $700 a week for a four-bedroom home as she did in Rolleston, but because she moved zones, now receives $150 less in her accommodation supplement. After paying rent, she has $109 a week to cover bills, school activities and fuel for the extra drive to and from her kids Rolleston schools, twice a day.
She counts herself “lucky” her new landlord let them move in early so they weren’t homeless. Despite this, the family is left “struggling and stuck in the middle of nowhere”.
The Selwyn district has 78 people on the public housing register (up from 21 in 2019) of whom 75 are priority “A” – at-risk people whose needs “must be addressed immediately”.
The Selwyn District Council does not own social housing and none is “in the pipeline”. It is a similar situation in Waimakariri, where the council owns 112 elderly housing units but no general social housing.
Dana George, manager of the Hope Opshop in Rolleston, said she received “lots” of messages from people struggling to find homes. She has heard from two people living in cars in freedom camping areas and two immigrant families, both with seven children and four adults squeezed into separate three-bedroom homes. “They are struggling to find somewhere to live. It’s definitely really prevalent out here, and it’s hitting a lot of people,” she said.
Ros Johnson, of the Rolleston Salvation Army, said they were one of the only supports available in the area. Because of this, their Rolleston foodbank had a “constant stream” of people including those on fulltime incomes.
Lemonwood Grove School Principal Blair Dravitski said Rolleston was “very different to eight years ago when the school first opened”.
Now, the school has a budget to ensure children are fed. They have seen families struggling to find housing and support. Some were taking on boarders or international homestay students for extra income.
“There’s very little social service support in Rolleston,” Dravitski said. “We’ve got supermarkets coming, we’ve got cafes, restaurants coming to build up that social infrastructure, but not that social service infrastructure that was needed to support these families that are doing it tough.”
He didn’t expect Rolleston would have as many people struggling as it did.
Selwyn council chief executive Sharon
Mason said the authority was working with agencies such as Kāinga Ora to explore housing options for those in need.
There are 38 Kāinga Ora homes in Selwyn, of which 24 are in Rolleston. Twenty are used for social housing, the other four as community group housing, which are leased or rented to support service providers.
The Christchurch City Council is considering expanding its social housing provider Ōtautahi Community Housing Trust (ŌCHT) into Selwyn and Waimakariri – a move agreed on by the three councils to tackle shortage of housing and rising unaffordability in the region.
The move would require a change to the trust deed, as ŌCHT is only permitted to operate within the city boundaries.
Council head of city growth and property Bruce Rendall said this would most likely require a private or local bill to progress through Parliament. The city council was paying for the legislative work, but it could explore options to recover those costs, he said.
Councillor Yani Johanson said it seemed inherently unfair for the city council to pay the cost and Selwyn and Waimakariri to “piggyback after doing nothing for six years”.
City mayor Phil Mauger said it was about “spreading the love out to our neighbours”.
Social housing itself was self-funded via rent and a Government subsidy.
* Real name withheld due to vulnerability.