Wellington housing advocates are on the hunt for the capital's worst flat in the hopes it will spark a reaction from councillors who they say don't take the city's unhealthy housing seriously.
Entries for a competition known a Wellington's Next Top Mould-el closed on Tuesday.
Advocacy group A City For People is expected to announce the winner on social media later this month and hopes pictures of damp, black mould- and mildew-infested flats will kick Wellington City Council into action.
"Eighty percent of our city Councillors own their own homes. They don't know what it’s like to be a renter here, so we need to show them," their website reads.
The group wants Wellington City Council to pass their proposed spatial plan which will give residents a chance to live in a home that is affordable, accessible, healthy and warm.
A City for People spokesperson Eleanor West told The Project on Monday the issue is much of Wellington's poor quality housing is protected.
"So much of Wellington's housing is such poor-quality - and a lot of those poor-quality homes are the pre-1930s homes that are being protected by character overlays at the moment.
"We want the councillors to remember the people who are suffering through this housing crisis. We want them to think about these people when they vote on the spatial plan and pass an ambitious plan that provides housing for people."
Two people who are suffering through Wellington's rental market are Zara Hopkins and Scarlett Vowden - both of whom have entered the worst flat competition.
Speaking to The Project, Hopkins says the worst flat she lived in had black mould "absolutely everywhere" which caused extreme dampness.
"I'd have wet bedding, wet clothes, everyone had wet clothes, we couldn't even keep salt in our flat."
Vowden says she "honestly" hasn't heard of anyone having a good living situation in Wellington.
She too has faced issues with mould: "The main problem was the bathroom. The mould was kinda from the head to toe of the whole room. It covered in the bath in the shower like the whole ceiling was peeling with mould. It was peeling everywhere."
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster says there's a clash between people who value the character of areas with older housing and those who want to build "anything anywhere".
Foster says older housing has an "attention to detail that you sometimes don't see in houses built more recently".
But West says these houses haven't been maintained well enough.
"They're not insulated, they're not ventilated properly, they're making people sick."
Hopkins says she developed situational asthma from the flat she was living in, which "paid a toll" on her mentally.
"It's hard to be happy when you're not in a healthy home," she says.
The winning flat will take home $610, the current median weekly rent in Wellington - a price which would likely get you a mouldy, damp flat like Hopkins and Vowden's.
