Researcher says rent-to-buy schemes can lift Pacific home ownership rates

In the 1980s the Pacific home ownership rate was well over 50 per cent but currently it’s under 30 per cent.

However an Auckland university researcher says there is cause for optimism that this trend could be turned around.

Dr Karamia Muller, Co-Director of the Auckland University’s Māori and Pacific Housing Research Centre spoke with 531pi’s Pacific Mornings about some of strategies being implemented, plus some the hurdles to making faster progress.

She says because Pacific families tend to live with multiple generations, it can be harder to find the types of housing that suit their situation.

“There's not too much housing stock that's available, that's affordable, that also accommodates intergenerational living, as not only do we have more than one generation living under one roof, we also have a fluctuating household population - so people coming and going."

However she says rent-to-buy schemes, which allow families to build up a deposit towards buying a house, is one way more people could get on the housing ladder.

“The capitalisation of the family benefit [which was a government policy available until the early 1990s] was actually quite a powerful tool for helping people into home ownership. So we need to find models that support renting that goes towards paying for the house, which is basically another version of the capitalisation."

Another strategy has been financial literacy programmes.

Last year 3000 people took part in one of these, which are funded by the Ministry For Pacific Peoples, and it led to around 120 families being able to buy a home.

Muller says further research is being done on what can increase the percentage of programme participants being able to buy.

“I feel optimistic that that will give us good evidence around how to keep bettering some of these systems on delivering housing.

"But even if you get [yourself ready for] home ownership, are you seeing homes that actually match? And I would say that there's very little housing supply that our Pacific people will see, that satisfies [their requirements].”

Muller adds that regulations around renovations could be another tool to enable Pacific families to make houses to better suits their needs.

“A lot of our people are already in those construction sector, so there's ways that you can apply some of that professional expertise in your personal life," she says.

"I know for me and a lot of my family is that they've been able to better their house is by getting out the tools and adding that extra bedroom, lining that garage or putting some flooring down."

Watch the full interview with Dr Karamia Muller below: