Inside broke students' flats

A new photography project explores what living on $176.86 per week really looks like.

Twenty-year-old Anna Higgins, a third year design student majoring in photography at Massey University in Wellington, is one of thousands of students who flock to the city each year to pursue tertiary study.

It’s common knowledge in student circles that after you’re done paying rent, power and wifi, the maximum student living costs of $176.86 per week don’t leave room for much living. Wanting to document the living situation of some of those students, Anna embarked on a photography project that documented eight flats and the people in them.

It affirmed much of what she already knew: student flats are cold, often rundown, and, more than anything - expensive. “I get the full studylink living costs per week which covers 50c less than my rent,” one student told her. "You simply can’t survive on the ironically named 'living costs’," said another.

We spoke to Anna about the project, and what she took away from it.

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Hi Anna. Can you tell us how the project come about?

It was for a uni project - the brief was to unveil the city. I just decided to [look at] student living conditions because I felt that it was an issue that gets swept under the rug. There was a lot of support from everyone at uni and all my friends were keen to get on board, because I think they all felt it was an issue that needed to be addressed.

You’re a student as well - is this something quite personal to you?

Yeah, definitely. As I was saying, it’s something I feel goes under the radar, and as I was brainstorming and coming up with concepts this was the one that people really engaged with.

It’s just something that people felt really passionately about so I wanted to engage with that and shed some light on the issue.

There are a lot of mouldy flats around Wellington, aren’t there.

It’s pretty shocking. Even ones that you would expect to be a bit warmer and drier, newer apartments and flats, were really bad for mould too. Just really poor ventilation and stuff.

And the crazy thing is how much people pay for these flats.

Yeah, it’s just impossible to do that without getting a part time job, you literally can’t do it with student living costs.

How did students' living situations vary?

So I photographed standards flats, like the older ones that you typically think of when you think of a flat, and then newer places that were maybe built in the 2000s. I also photographed people that are still living at home because they just can’t afford to move out.

One guy was living in the lounge of his friend’s flat for about three months or so, after he moved down from Auckland. To get a room was so much more expensive - he couldn’t afford it. So he just had to make ends meet and live in the lounge until he could find something a bit better.

Were there any situations where you were like ‘Ohhh, I’m not too sure about that...’?

I think just the fact that every flat I went to had mould - that was quite surprising. Like ones that I thought would be better off just weren’t, and everyone just has to deal with it. No one was really that shocked or surprised, like it’s just something that people are trying to get through, and it was just sad to see what people are having to put up with.

How bad were some people’s living situations?

I don’t think that I got to photograph people that had really horrific living situations. But I definitely know that they’re out there in Wellington; I just wasn’t able to get in contact with them. So I don’t think I personally saw anything that was truly horrific. But just the general quality of life for students is, yeah... Also, I was doing this project in summer/spring - I think if I went back now [in winter] things would be a lot worse.

What did people tell you about their living costs?

It was unanimous that it wasn’t enough. Because you have living costs and then having to have a part time job and study... it was just pretty impossible for most people.

What did you learn from the project?

I think I learned the power of photography and getting in touch with people. [I’m] hoping to initiate a bit of change and conversation around these issues, I think that’s what I took from it the most.