The landlords helping solve the housing crisis

Matthew Ryan has been in the news a lot lately – you might have read about him on Stuff talking about property prices, or heard him on his fortnightly Hot Property podcast on Newstalk ZB. Often referred to as a ‘mega landlord’, what may surprise many is that Matthew is helping solve New Zealand’s housing crisis by providing properties to DCM’s Aro Mai Housing First team.

Matthew was born in Wellington in 1964. He has a lot of love for the city, where he has spent most of his life. He grew up in a working-class family, working at McDonald’s in Porirua from 1981-1985, where he made $4.34 an hour.

“I’ve probably come from a bit of a dysfunctional family,” Matthew reflects. “It was a hard upbringing. I guess in adversity sometimes you have to rise above it. You can go two ways with things. You can decide to be a part of it, or you can make it work for you.”

By 1987, Matthew had brought his first property with a friend. In the late 1980s, he relocated to London where he sold real estate.

“It was a recession time in the United Kingdom, but it was fascinating living in a big city like that – all the opportunity,” Matthew says. “I was in my early 20s. I arrived with $5,000 – about £2,500 – and I ended up buying three properties by the end of it. I wish I had them now of course!”

Back in New Zealand Matthew continued working in real estate – becoming a bona fide property expert in the process – and his focus is now on Wellington. “It’s a bit easier to manage houses where you live,” he says.

Matthew is Aro Mai Housing First’s largest landlord, currently providing housing for 17 whānau. Our Housing First team started by taking a few properties, and when that worked out, Matthew offered more – in particular in the Hutt Valley, where a large number of whānau have been housed.

“The relationship blossomed,” Matthew says. “Because it makes sense.

“It’s taken a while to understand how it all works. Like a lot of things, it evolves as it goes, but I now have a better understanding of how Aro Mai works, and who’s responsible for what.”

It takes support from DCM, Emerge Aotearoa as a CHP (Community Housing Provider), and property owners, to make Aro Mai Housing First work. And there are challenges, such as obtaining insurance, which infuriates Matthew.

“If an insurance company is prepared to insure a building on the basis that I pick John and Mary Smith, they’re happy enough to rent on that basis, but if I give it to Emerge Aotearoa, and they pick the same John and Mary Smith, they go, ‘No we don’t want them’.

“That has to be discrimination. And that is not on, really.”

But Matthew says Housing First is an attractive option for landlords, because not only are they helping solve the housing crisis by renting to people who have experienced homelessness, properties are managed for them, and they can benefit from changes to tax deductibility rules.

Matthew would like to see the government step in to address the insurance issue. “If they can’t force their hand they probably need to say OK, well, we need to assist here.”

In the meantime, Matthew continues to offer properties to DCM's Aro Mai Housing First team. Our vision is for a community where whānau are housed, connected, valued, and thriving. In the middle of a housing crisis, we need many more landlords just like Matthew who are truly making that vision become a reality.