I'm not poor. I admit it. I'm not poor. I'm middle class. I owe more than I own, and I've made more money than my parents, or theirs.
I am lucky. When I go to the bank I go up to the 14th floor and chat to a good guy who probably wants to kick my butt for having as much financial sense as a demented version of Imelda Marcos. But he helps me balance my accounts and attempts to encourage me to save money. My Dad didn't have that kind of relationship with the bank. My mum certainly does not either.
So the government is freeing up more land to build houses. Who will buy the land? Developers, I imagine. Developers will buy the land and build more McMansions for the McMiddle class to McPurchase.
I get it. It's a business. But where do the poor fit in? Apparently there are lots of vacant houses in Auckland right now. So it's not that there are no houses to rent. It's that there are no houses to rent that average earners and the poor can afford.
What do I know, sitting on my rented couch in my rented inner-city apartment. I know I have a wonderful mother living in a house I own. (By own I mean I'm mortgaged up to the eyeballs.) And I'm not sure how to continue housing her because paying a big mortgage and rent is crippling me. It's not sustainable. But I have options. I'm a middle class, working woman with options.