Columns

This week’s motion is “that insulation of Dunedin flats should be compulsory.” Alec Dawson argues the affirmative while Kurt Purdon argues the negative.

Affirmative
 
Dunedin winters are relentlessly cold, dark and bleak. If you’re lucky enough to be living in a hall of residence with your underfloor heating and in-room heater, let me make it clear that this will disappear the moment you have to shift into a slum on Castle Street. Flats are usually found in the coldest, darkest parts of town and are either cheaply built or old villas (and usually both). The World Health Organisation sets the bar of a temperature for a healthy home at 18 degrees. Dunedin flats aren’t at this temperature, not just in the winter months, but for most of the time students have to live here.
 
It’s all very well owning a house and choosing to bear the cold, but that’s not what students do. We have to live in Dunedin, close to the University, and are never in a position to own our homes. This puts students in a position with not very much choice. Add to this the fact that students are young, first-time flatters who want to live in flats of a certain size, none of which are well insulated, what you get is that landlords are under no pressure to make their flats meet basic standards of comfort, especially as students are in no position to take collective action to force change. In reality many landlords don’t even live in Dunedin, operate through agents, and put zero effort into the flats that they own.
 
One way or the other cold conditions put heavy strain on students. Either it raises the costs of living, which is especially difficult for most Dunedin students who have to live away from home on living costs or an allowance (North Dunedin doesn’t have a job for every student); or it means living in freezing conditions. “Toughening up” is all very well, but it doesn’t make the cold go away – it makes putting up with other strains and difficulties in life more difficult, and can lead to worse study habits and strained interpersonal relationships. It’s also a serious health problem.
 
There are also likely advantages in terms of how students respect both their flats and Dunedin. People complain about students treating Dunedin like a place to be trashed, but if all it has is cold, low-quality living conditions there more likely to treat it like it doesn’t matter. Force landlords to make life better for students, and they’re more likely to appreciate living here. Forcing insulation is a very good start.
 
- Alec Dawson
 
Negative
 
Alec has fantastic intentions, but harms those he tries to help. Making full insulation of flats mandatory will only hurt students. At first glance, this sounds counter-intuitive, but with a bit of common sense we can see that it is true.
 
Alec is right about one thing, Dunedin has un-insulated flats. Dunedin also has fully insulated flats which you can get if you want, but they cost more. Why? There are two reasons. Firstly, insulation has installation costs, which landlords pass onto students in the form of higher rents so they get an acceptable return on their investment. Secondly, because fully insulated flats attract higher rents, these properties are worth more, so sell at a higher price when one owner sells it to another. This means the new owner has a larger mortgage, meaning more interest. Higher interest costs mean higher rents, as the landlord needs to make an acceptable return on their investment.
 
If full insulation became compulsory, rents would increase. There’s simply no question about it. Insulation costs money. Floors and walls need to be ripped up, ceilings need to be refitted. Landlords will simply increase rents to cover it.
 
Most students have modest budgets. Some people can’t afford to pay extra for insulated flats, whereas some don’t think it’s worth it to pay extra for a fully insulated flat. These are the people you harm when you make insulation mandatory. Let’s look at two examples, Bob and Mary.
 
Bob and his friends want to keep costs low by leasing an un-insulated flat for $95/week. What does Alec tell them? He tells them that this is not allowed, and that they may only lease a flat that is fully insulated. The flat that would have been $95/week is now more expensive, so Bob and his friends are forced to pay more when they didn’t want to.
Mary gets hit even harder. She can’t find a part time job, has no savings, and her parents can’t afford to financially support her. Her only income is her $169/week living costs. She and her friends are keen on a cheap un-insulated flat that costs $110/week (leaving her with just $59 income leftover). Alec punishes Mary by forcing all flats to be fully insulated. She can now only find a flat that costs $120 week, meaning her leftover income is only $49/week! Mary is now forced into either living close to the poverty line or quitting study altogether as the costs are simply too great.
 
Getting flats fully insulated is not costless, and these costs are borne by students. Currently, we all have the liberty to decide whether we pay extra or not. Alec takes away your liberty.