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High costs pushing more homeowners to look for homestay students and flatmates
More Auckland homeowners are seeking homestay students or flatmates to cope with the rising cost of living coupled with high mortgage rates.
Companies connecting families to international homestay students say they are seeing an increase in the number of people registering as host families, and more doing so for financial reasons.
Erikah Lyama, who lives with her partner and 18-month-old baby, said her mortgage repayment went up by $300 a week after refixing her rates last month.
The 37-year-old has found a homestay student after registering with multiple agencies.
“We wouldn’t have done it if we didn’t have to, but we’re not gonna complain about it or anything, because it’s what we have to do to make it work, and it’s a relief, it is a financial relief,” she said.
For $325 a week, Lyama provides two meals a day on weekdays, and three meals on weekends to her homestay student.
The money was tight before the student arrived, she said.
“There was about a month between the [mortgage] increasing and her arriving, and that was stressful, that was like having to put bills and stuff on credit cards because of the increased costs,” she said.
She intended to keep this going for as long as interest rates stay high, she said.
Rachel Hamlin, who runs a company which matches host families to students in Auckland, said there had been a noticeable increase in the number of families approaching them over the past few months.
Hamlin was also seeing more people looking to host due to financial pressures.
“The difference that I’ve seen is that the type of people that are becoming host families, the type of people that are looking to become host families, they all still are obviously looking for a good cultural experience, but also another source of income is becoming increasingly important to them,” she said.
There appeared to be increasing diversity in the experiences and life stages of hosts, she said, with pensioners also looking to host so that they have company as well as additional income.
Families told her that the money helped, she said.
“It is absolutely helping with the mortgage, people are paying higher interest rates, mortgage rates have gone up, and so they have said that they do want to have some extra income and this is a way they can do that,” she said.
Families are reportedly telling homestay services that the extra income helps them cover costs. (file image) Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Caesey Petterson, who also worked for a homestay matching service provider, said she was seeing more people registering to host homestays for the first time.
Of the 600 hosts in Auckland, 120 had registered in the past three months, she said.
Petterson said some of the families appear to rely on the income to meet costs.
“They are ensuring that those rooms are full, they are constantly calling to make sure we have the next student lined up, because they cannot risk that room being empty and the money not coming in,” she said.
Meanwhile, some first-time homeowners are also renting out rooms to keep up with mortgage repayments.
Jamie Wood, who bought a three-bedroom home in West Auckland with her partner three years ago, said they always had flatmates.
But, whereas in the past renting out helped the couple save some money, it was now a necessity.
“When we first bought the place, we could’ve afforded to not have at least one of our rooms rented out, but [now] we definitely need to have both rooms filled,” she said.
For North Shore first-time homeowner Nicole, who did not want her full name used, her bank loan required her to have flatmates.
Nicole bought the house two months ago for $920,000, but she had only managed to find one flatmate so far.
She said she was struggling to keep up with the repayment of about $1000 a week.
“So at the moment, I’m just using the cashback from the bank, and when that runs out, I don’t know what to do,” she said.
Nicole said she may need to ask her family for help or find a second job, if she was unable to find a flatmate in the coming months.
rnz
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
rnz
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