Hey everyone, I registered a domain name and installed phpBB forum software, but I will also be:

• hosting meetings at Spagalimi's Pizzeria in Christchurch
• hosting meetings at the WEA (59 Gloucester)
• advertising through the Christchurch Progressive Network mail list
• knocking on doors to promote the forum
• setting up a table and chairs in town for some real life promo

The website is www.rentingcrisis.nz and that's where I'll be organising events in the near future.

I had some trouble with password resets on Lemmy so I just created a new account. I want to reply to https://lemmy.nz/u/kiwikruizer regarding this thread: https://lemmy.nz/post/26847

I complained about the crowded boarding house where I live and kiwikruizer replied: "Theres a few places around that have ensuites in the ~$230 range". This isn't the response that I expected. I pay slightly more than $230 a week (going up to $300 a week soon) and the problem isn't the lack of an ensuite bathroom. I didn't understand where kiwikruizer was coming from, because I never mentioned anything about an ensuite, I just said the place was crowded.

To clarify, a boarding house is not a house where you have 6 or 8 bedrooms and only 2 communal bathrooms. A boarding house will, in nearly all cases, be a modern building with 6 or 8 bedrooms that all have ensuites, but which share a kitchen (and optionally, a lounge, but it isn't required). I think most rentals are under a boarding house contract these days, unless for some reason it's a fixed contract (which I would recommend avoiding unless a person is well-off)

This confusion of terms is another reason why I want to host public meetings. People don't understand renting and have misconceptions about how it works, what it costs, and how convenient it is.

The $230 a week boarding houses that kiwikruizer mention generally have very thin walls and doors, so you can hear people coughing from down the hall, or singing in their bathroom in the morning. The median rent price is much higher than $230 a week, and even these $230 a week properties are more likely $245 or $250 by now. The prices will keep going up and up until we do something about it.

I'll keep you all updated on my progress. It will be a difficult road to build an active group but I'm determined to do this, because the alternative is doing nothing and having nothing change.