Labour Party pamphlet from 1919 shows striking parallels to today’s housing crisis

A Labour Party pamphlet from 1919 shows striking parallels to today’s housing crisis, and a political historian says rents back then were as contentious as they are now.

The pamphlet was handed out at a time when Labour had never yet held power in New Zealand. It wasn’t until 1935 when the first Labour Government was formed under Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage.

At a time when house prices are skyrocketing beyond the reach of most New Zealanders, and rent prices are also increasingly rapidly, the pamphlet from 1919 demonstrates how complex housing is for governments to tackle.

The 1919 leaflet reads: “Wellington is crowded. Frequently several families occupy the same small house. In some cases, families have to live in one room. Many of the houses are insanitary.

“The National Government – Liberals and Tories – has nothing to remedy this disgraceful state of affairs. It will do nothing, because it represents the landlords and house owners.”

The pamphlet then goes on to discuss rising rent prices – reminiscent of today. According to Stats NZ’s latest rental price data, rental prices were up 3.1 percent in December 2020 compared to the same time in 2019.

Stats NZ said the rise was likely caused by strong demand as well as new rental standards for landlords. But in 1919, rising rent prices were “forced up enormously” during war time, according to the Labour pamphlet.

Victoria University of Wellington History Professor Jim McAloon says rents were as contentious in 1919 as they are now. But more than 100 years ago, it was a very different housing landscape.

“It does seem clear that many working-class families experienced significant hardship during the First World War. In terms of housing, the question of quality was at least as important as that of affordability: the 1918 influenza highlighted a significant dimension of substandard housing,” he told Newshub.