Precarity in ‘Paradise’: Understanding Older People’s Experiences of Renting on Waiheke Island

Abstract

Homeownership has long been central to notions of the ‘kiwi dream’ for many New Zealand residents. However, housing unaffordability is a current concern, especially in Auckland where there is increasing recognition of the challenges faced by renters in unsafe, insecure and precarious housing circumstances. In this thesis I explore older people’s experiences of renting on Waiheke Island, metropolitan Auckland’s “Island Paradise”. Waiheke presents a context where ageing and housing challenges are increasingly recognised, and where the community and landscape is changing with recent influxes of tourist visitors and newer (and typically wealthier) residents. Employing a phenomenologically-inspired research methodology, I pose the question: How do older renters experience ageing and renting within the context of Waiheke Island? Drawing on narratives from two phases of qualitative interviews with a total of 13 older renters, I reflect on the potential precarity and resilience related to participants’ experience of ageing in place and renting within the island context. Results indicate that older Waiheke renters can experience intersecting and interacting layers of precarity, often related to housing, health, financial and personal circumstances. Their experience of ageing (well) in place can be complicated and compromised by these uncertainties. Further, the challenges inherently associated with an island context (e.g. distance or isolation from mainland services and healthcare, tourism-related infrastructural pressures, and changes to community character and identity) may intensify experiences of precarity. Despite these potential challenges, older island renters also report their ability to draw resilience from their familiarity with, attachment to, and enjoyment of, the island setting. It is apparent that older renters’ variable experiences of ageing and renting on Waiheke can be influenced by precarity and resilience dynamics, with implications for their opportunities to age (well) in place.