'Same temperature as outside': Students face frigid Dunedin flats
University students in Dunedin are struggling with substandard, freezing housing conditions despite landlords claiming to meet Healthy Home Standards. Advocates are calling for stricter enforcement as students report health issues and high energy costs due to poor insulation.
Why it matters
It highlights the gap between housing policy regulations and the actual living conditions of vulnerable populations like students.
Dunedin university students continue to live in flats that are colder inside than out, despite meeting Healthy Home Standards.
Advocates are calling for action over the frigid flats.
Second-year student Rosie moved into a Leith Street flat after a year in a student hall, where her room was warm and insulated.
The low standard of living came as a shock and she did not know any flats that could be considered warm.
Her flatmates wear jackets inside and she was sick for most of the first semester.
"We're all pretty restricted on our power use. We don't use our communal heat pump.
"We probably each individually have an oil heater in our rooms and we use that a couple of hours a day because rent is so expensive and power is so expensive in general, we're pretty reluctant to do that."
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