Students not to blame for poor flats

Do not just blame students for the mouldy state of their flats, writes Sara Walton. 

It seems somewhat easier to place the blame on a tenant's behaviour than to consider the often poor condition of the rental house.

Drying your clothes inside, not airing and not opening the curtains in your flat are common accusations flung at students from landlords when the rental housing in North Dunedin is found to be poor.

Yet, many flats do not have adequate curtains or stays on the windows so that they can be safely left open to air the flat, and lack an outdoor clothes line or places outside that receive enough sun in winter to dry clothes, not to mention ventilation fans in kitchens or bathrooms.

It is time to stop focusing on behaviour only, consider some evidence and adopt a systems-level perspective of the situation - at least that it what I try to teach my students, anyway.

For the past four years in my course on Organisations and Sustainability, students complete an assignment that considers how to enable change to improve rental housing in North Dunedin. They start by measuring the conditions of their rental houses.

Using iButton data, a temperature measurement is taken over a period of around a month. The data shows that very few flats have an average above 18degC and some do not reach 18 - the minimum temperature for a healthy home recommended by theWorld Health Organisation (WHO).

The students also carry out a self-assessed warrant of fitness based on the rental housing warrant of fitness developed by the Wellington School of Medicine. The vast majority of student flats fail - although what is positive is a slight trend of fewer failing each year.

Why do they fail? In the 2016-17 data we found 34.5% with mould present in bathroom and toilet; 32.1% underfloor insulation insufficient to requirements; 27.4% without a working light at the entranceway; 22.6% did not have water temperature within safe range, and fifth-equal at 21.4% were the absence of a ground vapour barrier and poor ceiling insulation.

After taking stock of the current condition of the flats, students then assess how to bring about change to improve the places where they live. The key points they make are:

We need stronger regulation and enforcement for better physical conditions. For example, we have new insulation regulation that requires landlords to provide an insulation statement with the tenancy agreement. I asked the students this year if they had seen one - no-one put their hand up.

Better market transparency is required. A few years ago a motivated group of students set up a website called ``rate my flat'' for just that very reason. Like a TripAdvisor of rental housing, this enables information to be shared so that tenants become more knowledgeable not just about the house they may move into, but what to look for when signing a lease. More knowledge and transparency is essential for a fair market.

A change in the culture of North Dunedin tenants would help. We know the second year students come out from a year in hostels and some want the named flats in the Castle St party area, but that is a small minority of students. The days of rites of passage of a cold scarfie flat are dying out. Most want a nice, sunny and warm flat that keeps them healthy.

In sum, change requires a multi-pronged approach, which is already under way.

Making a spray to get rid of mould is one part - but the reality is that we need all parties to work on this issue to provide a better standard of accommodation for students - after all, they are paying for it, and the reality is poor rental housing is not just a North Dunedin student issue.

Dr Sara Walton is a senior lecturer in the University of Otago Business School, department of management. She teaches in the area of business and sustainability and works with students on real world projects to get them to think about change for sustainability. One of these is around improving student rental housing.