“How I think about and rationalise concepts and realities has been hugely influenced by my quite eclectic career and working class roots but my best teacher has been marriage and parenthood. I’m a better person now than at the start of my journey because of the important people in my life. I have a more nuanced perspective on society and I’m very interested in how to improve social inequality — especially in housing.”
My professional life began in 1977 working and training part-time on a state agency paid internship while studying property valuation at University of Auckland. Since that time the nature of my work widened progressively encompassing a diverse range of capital asset, economic and enterprise initiatives in New Zealand and Australia in both the private and public sectors (including as executive director of a state agency). I’ve spent much of my career as an independent property economist and development director — specialising in the front-end planning, financial analysis, and marketing phases of projects.
I’ve also pursued a number of personal entrepreneurial initiatives across tourism, real estate, and e-commerce sectors and these are what I’ve enjoyed the most. They have given me a hands-on appreciation of the hard work, highs and lows that go hand-in glove with self-employment, converting an idea into a financially viable reality, and valuable lessons on when to dig my toes in, change direction, or walk-away.
How I think about and rationalise concepts and realities has been hugely influenced by my quite eclectic career and working class roots but my best teacher has been marriage and parenthood. I’m a better person now than at the start of my journey because of the important people in my life. I have a more nuanced perspective on society and I’m very interested in how to improve inequality — especially in housing.
For someone who has spent his entire career working in “the machine” it was pretty easy to connect the dots between a “neo-liberal” state policy agenda focused on growth and some of the worst housing price inflation and affordability metrics in the OECD. Growth is not synonymous with social equality — the latter akin to the “ghost” in the free market.
Our almost exclusive reliance on for-profit market actors to deliver housing means that for roughly ⅓ of households traditional home ownership at market pricing is simply out of reach. These people are the “missing middle” in our society. They earn too much to qualify for social housing and too little to get a loan from the bank and as such they’re stuck paying market rents as their only current option. Economist Thomas Piketty describes the idea of equality emerging from the free market as an “illusion” and that “real democracy and social justice require specific institutions of their own”. I’ve recently released an ebook exploring these issues and potential solutions titled Neo-Liberal Zombies, The Missing Middle, & The Third Sector (a pimped-up academic thesis).
I’m passionate about the potential for a cross-party policy modus vivendi directed at enabling the “third sector” to deliver wider access to quality housing and improved affordability. This sector sits outside the state but most importantly is ‘not-for-profit’. I’m directing my energy over the next three years to researching and developing a universal blockchain for improved, lasting and socially-diffuse housing outcomes — essentially a simulation of exemplar state third sector housing policy interventions and systems — as a PhD candidate at Auckland University of Technology.
I hold a Master of Philosophy Degree (Honours First Class) from Auckland University of Technology School of Future Environments, a Master of Business Administration Degree (Distinction) from Massey University School of Business and a Diploma in Valuation from University of Auckland School of Architecture and Town Planning.