Kōrero with Rebecca Matthews

Kia ora Rebecca. Thanks for your time today. Tell me a little bit about your background and what you were doing before joining Te Toi Mahana.

 

My parents are English. I grew up in Auckland and moved down here to get a job when I was about 25. So, I’ve now lived in Wellington longer than I haven’t. I mainly worked in the trade union movement - doing comms, policy and campaigns. The last job I had before I was a City Councillor was working for the Teacher’s union. I’m now a second-term City Councillor and this (Te Toi Mahana) has been one of the gigs I’ve got to do in my second term. It’s exciting.

 

How does the Council decide who gets to be on the Board?

 

We have a process where at the beginning of each term there’s a bit of jockeying for roles, and I guess I had become associated with housing. I’m a renter myself.  I’m a middle-aged person who because of divorce and blended family, is still renting and not a homeowner.

So, while I get that I have relatively high income and I’m a City Councillor, I also have a direct experience of what it is like to be a renter. I also have a real passion for up- zoning.  

 

Up-zoning?

 

Essentially it is to make our planning rules as permissive as possible for more housing to be built – including community and social housing.  I have been one of the biggest advocates for up-zoning and, I guess, kind of cut my teeth on it - fighting the NIMBYS and communities who didn’t want housing where they lived, and didn’t want any more social housing either.

​

What do you see as some of the opportunities for Te Toi Mahana and our tenant community in the future?

 

It’s interesting times with the change of government and potential change of policy.  I don’t necessarily agree with the changes, but there are opportunities too. The main one for me, and why I was so comfortable with the shift from Council to Te Toi Mahana, is that we can access IRRS (Income Related Rent Subsidy) for new tenants.

​

If we can keep doing that we can get the whole organisation onto a more secure financial footing and it can enable us to build more houses. It’s a tough time and we won’t be able to deliver everything immediately, but we have some properties gifted by the council and I’m really keen to add to the amount of affordable housing we have in Wellington.

 

We’re about a year in now - is there anything that has surprised you or you weren’t expecting being part of Te Toi Mahana?

 

Te Toi Mahana is much more intimate than the Council, with closer relationships with the organisation and with tenants.  There are not all those layers of bureaucracy in between. So, I’ve got to do lots of fun things that I would never have done as a City Councillor - like talk more with staff at all levels, tenants, and get much more of a sense of what people are doing on a on a day-to-day basis. It’s been a privilege and really fun.