This American Life, a radio show on the United States' NPR network, has this week been exploring fair housing issues in an episode called House Rules.
The show talks to a 15-year-old girl who was kicked out of a school she'd been at for two years after administrators discovered that her mother was using her grandfather's address instead of her own. The girl's mother spent 10 days in jail for falsifying the documents to get both her daughters enrolled at the school.
Parents breaking school boundary rules is an issue familiar to anyone living in Auckland, where earlier this year Auckland Grammar hired a private investigator to uncover parents who gave false addresses.
This month the New Zealand Herald reported that properties in Auckland's double-grammar zone for Auckland Grammar and Epsom Girls' Grammar can command a $500,000 premium, to the chagrin of first home buyers looking in the area.
This coming week, The Wireless - as part of our December theme, "Home" - will look at local housing issues, including using KiwiSaver to buy a home, the question of whether it's better to rent or own, and a personal story from rapper and poet Dominic Hoey about the gentrification of Auckland’s Grey Lynn.