Tauranga teacher shortages inevitable

Merivale Primary School principal Jan Tinetti is concerned the housing crisis could affect teachers living in Tauranga. Photo: Chris Callinan.

Tauranga's rising house prices are now threatening local education, with teachers unable to continue living and working in the city.

REINZ figures put Tauranga's median house price at $600,000 – ten times the average salary of a primary or secondary school teacher.

A ratio greater than five is considered ‘severely unaffordable'.

As teachers return to classroom this week following the summer break, new analysis by the Green Party shows that houses are severely unaffordable for many teachers in all but two regions of New Zealand.

Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei says National's housing crisis is impacting many New Zealanders, including those who play a vital role in keeping our communities running, such as teachers.

'In Auckland, the median priced house is now more than 14 times an average teacher's income. That means some teachers will have to choose between having the chance to buy their own home or the career they've trained for and are passionate about.”

She says with the growing population, the country needs more people choosing teaching as a profession, not fewer.

'We are already seeing the results of the Government's housing failure, with some schools in Auckland unable to attract enough teachers to cater to the city's growing population.

'What started as an Auckland problem is now spreading around the country as house prices continue to rise beyond what most teachers can afford.”

She believes the government needs to build thousands of affordable homes, offer some as rent-to-buy for low income people, and stop selling state homes.

'Houses should be for living in, not speculating on, so we need a capital gains tax (excluding the family home), we need to close the loopholes that speculators use like negative gearing, and we need to stop overseas investors from being able to outbid people who live here.”

'The government must bring the house price to income ratio back to a reasonable level carefully over several years, by using all the tools available.”

‘Unsustainable'

Merivale Primary School principal Jan Tinetti believes Tauranga is now starting to see the effects of the housing crisis on other areas of life, including education.

'For me, the issue is the lack of relief teachers coming in. When I asked somebody about that recently who had been a relief teacher, she said ‘we can't afford it, we can't get housing here anymore.' Normally at this time of the year I would have a large list of relief teachers, but I have hardly any at the moment, which is a real concern.

'We also have young teachers here who have basically given up on the idea of ever owning their own home. They're saying their rent is going through the roof as well, which is a flow-on from higher house prices.”

She also has support staff who are paying more in rent than they're earning in the hand.

'You can't sustain that, it's crazy. I believe it's only going to get worse. I've never known my young teachers to give up on the idea of house ownership before.”

She knows her colleagues in Auckland are having to double up classes due to a shortage of teachers, and sees Tauranga going that way unless things change.

'Eventually it will become hard to attract people into the profession, and people will move out into areas they can afford to buy a home in.”

House prices even higher under new estimates

While the REINZ median price for Tauranga is $600,000, figures released today by QV put the average even higher.

They put the average value in the city at $672,752.

The Tauranga market continues to rise but at a slightly slower rate than prior to the LVR restrictions introduced late last year. Home values in Tauranga City up by 20.7% year on year.

Meanwhile, the Western Bay of Plenty values rose 21.1% in the year since January 2016. The average value in the district is now $575,089.

QV homevalue registered valuer David Hume says 2017 has begun with improved attendance at open homes and a number of acceptable pre-auction offers.

'The Western Bay of Plenty popular beachside location along Pukehina Parade has seen exceptional growth over the last six months with older holiday baches on half sites now selling for $350,000 to $400,000 up from $250,000 12 months ago.”

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1 comment

Unfortunately

Posted on 01-02-2017 08:23 | By Merlin

Unfortunately there was no crisis according to the government and they sat on their hands too long and when they did something it was only band aids.I feel sorry for young people trying to save for their first home with the price of rents increasing.Too little to late.I will be examining all parties policies for which I believe will best for ALL New Zealanders to cast my vote this time and will ignore the slagging off by our politicians of one and other.


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