The social construction of housing tenure in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1900 to 1990 : crisis, place, and the path to a dual tenure regime : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography at Massey University, Manawatū, Aotearoa New Zealand
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Date
2023
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Massey University
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Abstract
Over the 20th Century and beyond there have been repeated urban housing crises which have negatively impacted the welfare of many households. Discussions and solutions for these crises have centred on binaries of homeownership and renting or State versus market within a pre-determined housing trajectory. However, the academic housing literature has argued for a more nuanced view of tenure to engage with housing effectively. This thesis aims to contribute to this project by exploring Aotearoa New Zealand’s pathway toward a dual tenure regime. I explore tenure as a relational concept created by the intersection of economic, legal, and cultural dimensions in place and across time. Exploring tenure beyond broad categorisations emphasises the need to imagine it differently.
I used document analysis drawing on Parliamentary debates, political cartoons, archival documents, newspapers, statistics, and community organisation reports. They were analysed with a social constructivist approach inspired by a critical realism lens to explore the interdependence of tenure, place, and housing crisis. A core feature is that housing crises necessitating solutions drive tenure change. To explore Aotearoa New Zealand’s pathway to a dual tenure regime, I focused on the social construction of tenure during three housing crises.
I argue that Aotearoa New Zealand’s dual tenure regime valorising freehold ownership with an individual title over other tenure options took shape over the 20th Century. Housing policy and economic decisions in the first quarter of the century to deal with housing crises embedded freehold ownership with an individual title as the most desirable tenure and end point of a housing trajectory. These would be reinforced through later housing crises as the social construction of tenure created opportunities and constraints for housing. By 1990, tenures were understood through their relation to freehold with an individual title and how they fit within a pre-defined housing trajectory, limiting the ability to experiment with other tenure forms. The thesis concludes that tenure needs to be imagined holistically as a multiply-determined, dynamic, and relational concept intertwined with crises, and that the latter can highlight opportunities to imagine other tenures.
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Housing, Housing policy, Housing, Finance, Land tenure, New Zealand, 20th century, tenure, renting, homeownership, critical realism, geography, home, housing investment, tenure regime, tenure form, tenure type, New Zealand housing history, housing crisis