Talking Politics: Tackling Aotearoa’s Housing Crisis with Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick

Do you want the House Tour? Sorry, I can’t afford it right now...

Photo Source: A win for Wellington - Greens welcome more housing - Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

It was 8:00am on a miserable Wednesday morning. Ordinarily, you couldn’t expect me to be awake at such an unreasonable hour. However, Craccum had been invited to discuss the Green Party’s new housing campaign, and one faithful email chain later, there I was—bleary-eyed and blinking at my laptop screen—face-to-face (digitally, at least) with Co-Leader Chlöe Swarbrick. She greeted me warmly, framed by glistening white columns that suggested the interior of one of the Beehive’s many meeting rooms—courtesy of the taxpayer, of course.

I made a genuine attempt to break the ice, confessing that I had disgracefully rolled out of bed mere minutes before opening Zoom. She laughed easily, offering an anecdote about a less-than-ideal radio interview earlier that morning, co-featuring bleep. We’ll leave the subject of her mild frustration to your imagination, faithful Craccum readers.

With limited time—as it tends to be with most MPs—I moved quickly to my first question: which takes precedence in Aotearoa’s housing crisis—affordability or quality? Swarbrick acknowledged the tendency to frame the issue this way but rejected the distinction. In her view, affordability and quality are simply two sides of the same coin, both requiring simultaneous attention if housing is to be meaningfully realised as a human right.

When asked how this philosophy translates into tangible policy, Swarbrick held up the Green Party’s housing campaign policy handbook. Key proposals include annual rent controls capped at 2%, addressing what the party currently sees as excessive reliance on market-driven pricing under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. Currently, landlords retain broad discretion to set rents in line with the “market”—a system Swarbrick argues lacks sufficient accountability.

Photo Source: Greens announce plan to end homelessness & fix housing crisis - Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

Another major proposal is a new Rental Warrant of Fitness, designed to enforce Healthy Homes Standards through independent assessment. The aim, Swarbrick explained, is to prevent landlords from effectively “marking their own homework” when it comes to meeting legal obligations.

I asked what students could do to get involved in the campaign. Swarbrick offered a straightforward checklist: sign the Green Party’s open letter, ensure you’re enrolled to vote ahead of the general election, and start conversations about housing inequality within your own circles. She also stressed the importance of mobilising local councils to act.

She emphasised that students across Aotearoa are structurally marginalised, but far from powerless. “Showing up” in political spaces matters, she argued—particularly when considering the collective power of the student population. Nationwide, students number in the tens of thousands, with the University of Auckland alone representing a significant portion of that total (around 44,000 students!)

One unexpected highlight of the conversation was Swarbrick’s detour into the origins of Monopoly. Originally designed by Lizzie Magie as a critique of speculative property ownership, the game was intended as a warning against unrestrained capital accumulation. Today, Swarbrick noted, it feels as though that warning has been misread—if not entirely ignored.

Photo Source: Lizzie Magie, la desconocida inventora del famoso Monopoly – En Segundos Panama

She was also critical of the Government’s treatment of homeless communities and those reliant on emergency housing, pointing to broader concerns about wealth inequality in New Zealand. Despite housing being recognised as a human right in international frameworks, she argued, housing outcomes in Aotearoa remain deeply uneven.

Home may be where the heart is—but for many students, it’s also where the rent is due. And if you’d like to sing along to Sabrina Carpenter’s House Tour without instantly wincing at next week’s rental invoice, Swarbrick’s message is simple: be involved. Because a win for renters is, ultimately, a win for students too.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and interviewee, and do not necessarily reflect the views or editorial standards of Craccum or the Auckland University Students’ Association (AUSA).

BY VIVIENE BUNQUIN

News Editor