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Wellingtonians Tell Us What They Do to Cover Their Rising Rents

"If Inland Revenue ever catches on I'm screwed."
It's hard enough to get a flat in Wellington, let alone keep up the rent payments. Image via Flickr.

Rents in Wellington have skyrocketed in the past year, leaving young residents floundering for some extra cash to pay the bills and downright lying to beat the competition to a half-way decent flat.

One minimum-wage job doesn't cut it in the capital, where rent prices rose 6.8 percent last year. And although selling off a kidney would cover the costs for a while, the recovery time means too much time off work. So instead of living Harry Potter-style in a broom cupboard, young Kiwis are looking elsewhere for their cash flow—renting out tipis, running a fidget spinner stall, and selling bacon off their front porch.

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We talked to some of these enterprising Kiwis to ask what they have done to cover their rent.

Not actually Mary's tipi. Image via Flickr.

Mary*, 23

What is your rental situation?
I'm a single mum who has gone from professional to student and am working three part-time jobs to make ends meet. I'm cleaning, doing Airbnb, and helping out other Airbnb hosts. I bought a tipi and am looking for a place to put it for more income, and in the next few weeks I will work a stall selling fidget spinners.

Can you tell me more about the tipi?
I found it on Vic Deals Facebook page. It was super cheap and I knew it was a good investment so I took a short term loan and grabbed it. They rent for $65 per night on Airbnb so now it's just finding a site!

So you're getting all of your money from Airbnb?
The cleaning job came first, through a friend. If I hadn't had that, I wouldn't have been able to buy food. Then I got onto Airbnb. Basically if Inland Revenue ever catches on I'm screwed. There's no way I could live if I didn't have these things on the side.

Sam. Image supplied.

Sam, 20

Do you find it hard to make rent while you're in school?
My rent is covered by Studylink, mostly. If you rent, and are accepted through Studylink, it's covered up to $176 per week, however when I'm out of studying it becomes extremely hard when that isn't coming in.

What do you do when the money stops?
I have two jobs [as a grocery assistant and catering service assistant] at the moment because the lack of hours in one job makes it hard to only have one. I only get 12 hours in my one job, so I work another 18 at my other job to have excess money to actually have a life. I'm luckier than others though because if I ever run into problems where I can't sell something I have, I can ask my mum and she can help out when she can. But some people don't have that.

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Have you had to sell your stuff in the past?
I have sold Xbox games I have that I no longer use, clothes, headphones, etc. Just enough to give me a little bit of money to buy groceries. It sucks, but sometimes it's just what you have to do.

The joys of the hospitality industry. Image via Flickr.

Reid, 20

How do you cover your rent?
I've got a credit card and overdraft that are always in the red. I've taken jobs that fuck my sleep up for days. Currently, casual cash jobs are paying the bills because my employer likes to employ a tonne of students on really low hours so you end up with people doing one-hour shifts. I'm on four hours a week at my "proper" [hospitality] job, and I have no idea what I'm going to do when the casual work runs out.

What kind of casual cash jobs do you do?
Hospo. Loud-ass kitchens and loud-ass party bars.

You're a student?
Yeah, that's why all the casual night work. It's also why getting into bed at 6AM fucks you up even more. Kind of hard to study when your circadian rhythm is fucked. That was once, and it kind of set off my depression again. My current casual work usually has me in bed before 1AM, but I'm totally shattered and I end up waking up in the afternoon.

Do you find that affects your mental health?
Yes. Before uni I was doing okay, Then study started to take its toll. That could be manageable, but I'm shattered from work and still worried about where rent is supposed to come from. It's hard to resolve anxiety about unfinished assignments when study time is taken up by work.

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Thomas, 26

Have you ever done something crazy to pay the bills?
When I was a young chef, I would sell homemade bacon from my doorstep to pay the bills.

How did you come up with that idea?
The idea came about after I received a little money for my 18th birthday. I was having a few beers with some other chefs and the topic of bacon [came up]. Someone mentioned they knew someone we could buy a whole, free-range pig from for a good price. We bought the pig and spent the next weekend cutting it up and curing it. The final product was pretty good. People would ask to buy it or swap for beer for bacon. The pig cost us around $300, and we nearly doubled our money. We made a little over $500 back.

Why did you do it?
In hospitality we are known for working long hours for shit pay. I was a young, up-and-coming chef living in the heart of Wellington with high rent and a low-paying job. I would work 60 plus hours a week [that would] only just cover my rent, food, and maybe a case of beer. This was a way that I could further my skills as a chef and make a little coin on the side.

Would you do it again?
Yeah, I would do it again if need be. It's great to come up with ideas on how to get by, but keep them legal. One of the main reasons we did bacon was a few of the lads got busted with a lot of drugs. They were in the same boat as us but that was the path they chose. I'm not saying what they did wasn't wrong, but it sucks to have to work two to three jobs just to scrape by in this world.

*Not her real name.

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