OPINION: The Government is Leaving Students Out in the Cold this Winter

Students live in some of the shittest housing in Aotearoa. Our flats are old, damp, and bloody freezing in winter. Too many of us have to wait until our free hours of power kicks in at 9 p.m. to flick on those heaters and keep a reasonable temperature. After three hours, the cold seeps back in through uninsulated walls.  

If only there was some kind of government payment to help with the cost of power during winter…

Turns out, there is. They’re just gatekeeping it from us.

The Winter Energy Payment is an extra $20 per week from the government to help Kiwis heat their homes from May to October. Over 1 million people are eligible, including those on Superannuation,The Veteran's Pension, the Jobseeker benefit, Sole Parent Support, Supported Living Payment, Young Parent Payment, Youth Payment, Emergency Benefit, and Emergency Maintenance Allowance. 

But not students. 

All of these criteria are valid. If you need support to heat your home, it should be available. So why has the government decided that students simply aren't worthy of keeping warm in winter?

Maybe it's not that bad? Maybe it’s a right of passage for uni students to live in an icebox flat? Maybe we just complain too much? 

No. Research from the University of Otago last year showed that tertiary students are more than twice as likely to be living in damp and mouldy homes. Thirty-five percent of students surveyed had a patch of mould larger than a fucking A4 piece of paper growing in their houses. 

We’re cold and we're getting sick, but the government doesn't give a rat's arse about students. Alongside backtracking on the full fees free program, and ruling out universal student allowance, they've shifted the goalpost for landlords, giving them more time to meet the Healthy Homes Standards. Don't rely on your flat getting a heat pump any time before July 2025. 

It seems that if you want to splash out on the luxury of keeping warm this winter, the closest thing to government support is student loan living costs. Going into further debt to avoid cold and sickness shouldn’t be the best the government can offer students.