You’ll have seen in the news over the last few days, we’ve announced the (un)lucky winner of the Wellington’s Next Top Mould-el photo competition!
The winner of the grand prize, Wellington’s Next Top Mould-el, takes homes $610 - the average weekly rent in Wellington (as of April 2021).
When this tenant moved into her flat: “the kitchen floors were stuck with oily grime and I don't think the oven had ever been cleaned in our weird makeshift kitchen that had a handmade bench out of pallets ?!? A passing comment from our landlord once was ‘yeah when me and my mate bought the place in 1997, we just slapped this kitchen together, didn't know what we were doing’. Nice. Oh but this is where the story gets to the mould… welcome bathroom to the chat. It was a swift hop, skip and a jump to dodge as much floor as possible to get into the bath/shower each time I had to spend a moment in that room. I'd never seen anything like it, and I've lived in some crap flats in Wellington. Look, I'll just let the photos do the talking.”
Weekly rent: $920 (4 bedrooms)
Years rented: 2020
Suburb: Mount Cook
Here at City for People, we extend our congratulations (and sympathies).
Wellington’s Next Top Mould-el in the media
City for People spokesperson, Marko Garlick, spoke to the The Spinoff, Revealed: Wellington’s mouldiest rental homes:
Mushrooms, perma-soggy floors, and mummified rats: the biodiversity of our capital city’s “character”-filled rental homes has been flooding the inbox of A City for People. The organisation, which is a coalition of Generation Zero, Renters United and other concerned citizens, had a tough time picking the worst of a bad bunch – but they’ve done it.
The photos and stories witnessed by the judging panel were so wild they had to chuckle. “Because if you didn’t chuckle you would cry,” said spokesperson Marko Garlick.
“You can almost feel yourself getting asthma from looking at all that black mould. Many of our entrants told us they did indeed get asthma.”
The pestilent conditions many renters are living in could be funny, but A City for People says the widespread dilapidation in Wellington rentals is symptomatic of the housing crisis. “We created this competition as a tongue-and-cheek gag in an otherwise fierce and polarising debate,” said Garlick. “We want to show councillors the result of hundreds of hectares of ‘character’ protection and council-enforced housing scarcity.”
And to The Dominion Post, What does $920 per week in rent get you? Wellington's mouldiest flat revealed:
The photos are disgusting but sadly familiar to anyone who has flatted in the capital: mould, fungi, rotten floors, and even mummified rats.
The group “A City for People” created a competition to find Wellington’s mouldiest flat as a tongue-and-cheek gag in an otherwise fierce and polarising debate. “Wellington’s Next Top Mould-el,” they called it.
Renters sent in their worst Wellington housing photos and stories to win a prize of $610 – an amount equivalent to the capital’s weekly median rent.
But the competition had a serious side, said City for People spokesperson Marko Garlick.
“These flats are bad, but so are most flats. The photos and stories were so wild it made you chuckle, because if you didn’t chuckle you would cry,” he said. “We want to show councillors the result of hundreds of hectares of character protection and council-enforced housing scarcity.”
A few days ago our spokesperson, Eleanor West, was interviewed on The Project (video) as part of coverage on the competition entries so far.
“We want to councillors to remember the people who are suffering through the housing crisis. We want them to think about these people when they vote on the Spatial Plan, and pass an ambitious Plan that provides housing for people.”
And last week she caught up with Jesse Mulligan on RNZ Afternoons (audio), to chat about the photo competition entries so far:
“it’s going really well in the sense that, we’ve had a lot of entries. But that’s a bad thing because it means there are a lot of mouldy, terrible homes in Wellington. So from my perspective, it’s great! But from the perspective of people living in those homes? My heart bleeds for them.”
Spot Prizes
The Story Teller
We’ll let this entry do the talking:
"Great flat if you love living in sub-Antarctic conditions and those who love water because nothing you own will every be dry. It was lovely going to bed I damp sheets every night, with the roof dripping onto you, waking up cold just to put on damp and musty smelling clothing. I was lucky enough to have the only room with insulation and I sure knew it because I could see the outline of each bat moulded through on the roof. The corner walls of my room were made from the corflute sign used the sell the flat that they had taped together painted over and placed long curtains overtop. This wall dripped into a puddle on the constant mouldy floor whenever it rained. Our oil was often solid as it was sub par freezing and we couldn't use any salt as it clumped even when triple baged. Black mould was absolutely everywhere and I developed situational asthma flat this lovely place. Our bathroom wall had completely rotten through the tiles we're slowly falling off the wall. We had a hole in our longe floor boards, once a bag brushed against the wall and part of it broke off. Our outside drain was broken so they covered it with a board and our house flooded in heavy rain one day. Overall a great flat, I would - 10/10 recommend!"
We have to assume this renter is dripping sarcasm.
Weekly rent: $850 (5 bedrooms)
Years rented: 2020
Suburb: Northland
The Shroom Room
Just some fun guys and some fungi living in this flat.
It started with a leak, escalating to "the point that mould and mushrooms were growing in the lounge and shower, carpet rotted, if we turned on the hall way lights or spa pool room lights (spa pool didn't work and couldn't be emptied so just had stagnant water sitting in it) it would trip the circuits. One of the light fittings in the kitchen caught fire at one point. End up starting the tenancy tribunal process but settled outside of court and got out of there!"
Weekly rent: $760 (3 bedrooms)
Years rented: 2020
Suburb: Maupuia