Settling In Palmerston North and Feilding - Human Rights Commission

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Focus Group Suggestions• Assistance for low-income / newcomer families to help with first home buying / rentalsHousing Quality and Conditions• ‘Heating costs to be lowered, solar power, especially council housing/flats. Home heating standards need to be increased’• ‘Increased living standards in private sector’• ‘Prices are too high quality is poor. For example, insulation and ventilation deficiency, single glazing affects quality of living in the buildings.’• ‘Some houses are very poor insulated, resulting in very cold winter and mouldy wall and ceiling which will affect our health – need a system tomonitor rental houses in terms of rent and condition and quality. Houses in general have bad insulation and ventilation’• ‘Difficulty of finding clean and decent rental house. Even though they look clean in the photos, many rental agencies/owners seemed to neglectthe maintenance of their rental properties just because the tenants are usually students. A participant even found a rental property where ahole in a wall was covered only with a piece of cardboard.’• ‘Problem with smells permeating houses from some people from overseas cooking spicy food.’• ‘Many migrants housed in lower socio-economic areas experienced vandalism around their homes, and found this upsetting. One examplequoted was when “plugs” (sic) were damaged outside and four homes had no electricity for an evening.’Focus Group Suggestions• System for monitoring quality of rental housing – public and private• Improvements and lower-cost solutions for heating – eg solar heating in council housingSETTLING IN PALMERSTON NORTH AND FEILDINGTenants’ Rights• ‘A few attendees have had some unpleasant experience with house agents for renting houses. For example, a tenant had her bond reducedfrom $1,050 to $300 because of a small mark on the wall paper. This seems unreasonable. We suggest all agents who rent out propertyshould supply a clear notice of tenants’ rights and responsibilities in the language of the prospective tenant. There is also a need for informationregarding tenants’ disputes and where to go for help in the 1st language of the tenant.’• ‘Tenancy report that people from overseas can be exploited due to lack of knowledge.’Information• ‘How do we know what is a fair rent when we move here? Who do we get advice from? Motel owner was person to give me advice …’• ‘How do people know about things like school catchment areas? This is important when new arrivals rent a house.’• ‘Information about Accommodation’• ‘Support to find accommodation is good, provided by the institutions that they are associated with’• ‘One participant experienced communication difficulty as a prospective student who wanted to have more information about rental propertiesand other facilities. He tried to contact the International department of Massey University but didn’t get the response soon enough.’Student Accommodation• ‘Students who brought their families have to consider the distance between the rental properties with the schools for their children.’• ‘156 languages spoken’• ‘All overseas students want to live at Rakaia Place which is near the school, supermarket, mosque and bus route.’• ‘Most overseas students do not move from PNCC housing even after a number of years – should there be a review after 3 years?’• ‘Housing Advice report students from Pakistan need more permanent housing’Communities Housed Together• ‘Migrants and refugees want to be living close together although care has to be taken – so does not appear to be a ghetto of all the samenationality.’• ‘Numbers of refugees increasing, like living close by family members.’• ‘Some participants could not understand why they had typically been housed so far from other migrants of similar ethnicity. They couldunderstand the need to avoid the creation of “ghettoes” of migrant groups, but sometimes the effect of pepper-potting them around the city wasisolating, particularly for women looking after children at home.’• ‘At times there were problems with neighbours – one example was a neighbour who would put leaves onto their lawn, and language difficultiesmade it hard to negotiate on this problem.’• ‘One person described a walkway by his home which was muddy and covered with weeds. He did not feel confident to report his concern tothe council. Another cited local motorcyclists riding dangerously on the footpath, and did not know how to deal with such problems.’Feedback about What is Working Well• PNCC housing provides safe, affordable accommodation in a multicultural environment for many new residents.30
Feedback about What is not Working Well• Insufficient information about housing in New Zealand, particularly in relation to rights and responsibilities, costs,school zoning considerations.• Perceptions of high housing costs and poor-quality rental options.Existing Services and Activities 27• Student accommodation Massey/UCOL• Overseas Student Department Massey• International Student Ministries of NZ (ISMNZ)• Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)• PNCC housing complexes and Housing Information Officer• HNZC information and services and housing• Government Insulation initiative• Housing Advice Centre• Manawatu Tenants Union• Housing Needs Monitoring Group• Manawatu Multicultural Council• Settlement Support• Refugee Services staff and volunteers• Salvation Army, Hospice Shop, Red Cross for furniture and linen, Methodist Social ServicesFocus Group Suggestions• All agents who rent out property should supply a clear notice of tenants’ rights and responsibilities in the language ofthe prospective tenant.• There is a need for information regarding tenants’ disputes and where to go for help in the first language of the tenant.Opportunities and Suggestions for Further ActionActions that have been identified through the focus groups and consultation process are noted in the following table, with lead agencies highlightedin bold. It is important to note that these actions are a starting point only – once sector groups have been established to progress these issues, theactions are likely to evolve and partners may change over time.ACTIONWork collaboratively to assess issues around housing supply and quality in the district, andthe size of any problem for newcomersMaintain current public housing options (well utlilised by newcomer families) andconsider strategies for linking/transitioning newcomer families into alternatives, eg homeownershipLink newcomers into any home improvement strategies or existing projects (eg. Govtinsulation project, healthy home strategies)Develop local strategies for reviewing and maximising quality of public and private rentalhousingPARTNERSHousing NZ, Housing Needs Monitoring Group,Settlement Support (SS), Refugee Services (RS), tertiaryinstitutionsHousing NZ, SS, RSSettlement Support, Refugee Services, HousingNZ, District Health Board, Primary Health Organisation(PHO), Work & IncomeHousing NZ, Housing Needs Monitoring GroupSETTLING IN PALMERSTON NORTH AND FEILDINGEnsure that any newly developed resources incorporate information and support fornewcomers around housing options and issues (including accurate costs, tenancy rightsand responsibilities, school zones etc)Consider other suggestions made by focus groupsSettlement Support, Housing NZ, ManawatuMulticultural Centre (MMC), RS, Housing NeedsMonitoring Group, Ministry of Building & HousingSettling In sector working group27It is important to note that this is not a definitive list - these are just some of the key services/activitiesidentified as helping newcomers with their housing (and associated needs) in Palmerston North andFeilding.31
Page 3: ContentsForewords..................
Page 6 and 7: Executive SummaryIntroduction and B
Page 8 and 9: Suggestions for further action incl
Page 10 and 11: Suggestions for further action incl
Page 12 and 13: 1.3 Background to this ReportPalmer
Page 14 and 15: Context2.1 Palmerston North and Fei
Page 16 and 17: Percent ofoverseas bornYears since
Page 18 and 19: Occupation of New Zealand born and
Page 21 and 22: Refugee Services trains and provide
Page 23 and 24: • Providing translation and inter
Page 25 and 26: Key FindingsA number of key finding
Page 27 and 28: • ‘NZIS could give migrants a p
Page 29 and 30: What is working well?• ‘Educati
Page 31: 3.2 HOUSINGCommunity Voices‘How d
Page 35 and 36: What is Cultural Diversity? - A loc
Page 37 and 38: • ‘Difficulty to feel accepted
Page 39 and 40: ACTIONPARTNERSDevelop strategies to
Page 41 and 42: 3.4 ECONOMIC WELL-BEINGCommunity Vo
Page 43 and 44: Cost of living• ‘We have 2-3 jo
Page 45 and 46: Existing Services and Activities•
Page 47 and 48: there were more people in the same
Page 49 and 50: ACTIONPARTNERSEnsure information re
Page 51 and 52: just see a specialist if you are si
Page 53 and 54: ACTIONEnsure that any information r
Page 55 and 56: Key Issues (feedback from focus gro
Page 57 and 58: • ‘When my son try to explain w
Page 59 and 60: 3.8 POSITIVE AGEINGCommunity Voices
Page 61 and 62: Cultural Maintenance• ‘As paren
Page 63 and 64: 3.9 SAFETY AND SECURITYCommunity Vo
Page 65 and 66: Feedback about What is Working Well
Page 67 and 68: Focus Group Suggestions• More act
Page 69 and 70: 3.11 INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSCommunit
Page 71 and 72: in the Settling In discussions and
Page 73 and 74: • Free weekly English conversatio
Page 75 and 76: ReferencesEducation New Zealand (20
Page 77 and 78: Ethnic groups 2006In 2006, Palmerst
Page 79 and 80: Appendix 4Diversity in the Workplac
Page 81: InclusionInclusion in a society is

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