Responding to the Weather Indoors: Practices and Experiences of Tenants in Damp Housing on Waiheke Island

Abstract

Damp and mouldy dwellings have long been an unfortunate feature of the private rental market in Aotearoa New Zealand. Existing research demonstrates that legislative inaction and a societal sanctioning of this issue has led to the existence of a poor quality rental housing stock, resulting in adverse health outcomes for tenants who inhabit these dwellings. Yet, research engaging closely with the practices and experiences of tenants who live in damp and mouldy housing is absent from housing studies literature. In this thesis, I address this gap. Drawing on understandings from housing studies, the socio-cultures of weather, and critical architectural geographies, I argue that tenants must respond to the intricacies of the weather and of buildings in order to inhabit a dry and healthy home. Waiheke Island, the case study for this research, is typified by a laid-back holiday atmosphere, yet has ongoing rental housing supply, affordability, and quality issues. The island’s rental stock largely comprises baches and holiday homes, with many not suitable for permanent inhabitation. I employ a phenomenologically-inspired approach and a mixed-method data collection strategy (named ‘home tours’) in order to gather details of tenants’ socially-shaped and culturally-given practices and experiences. My findings demonstrate that tenants undertake a range of practices in order to keep their dwellings healthy and habitable. The intricacies of tenants’ practices shift according to changing weather, annual seasonal deviations, the intimacies of their dwelling, and the social relations that need to be navigated in their efforts to achieve a dry and healthy home. As a result, tenants’ attachments to their home and their island community are affected by their housing situation. I conclude that tenants’ security of tenure is challenged by their experiences in damp rental housing yet is improved by their reflexive and perceptive actions.