Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's everything you need to know about your rights as a renter, and what financial help you can get. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Keeping a roof over your head is one of the most important things in life, particularly as we head into rough economic waters.

A lot of the public discussion so far has focused on mortgage help. That’s really important, but we can’t forget renters.

A Renters United survey shows two out of every three renting households have had their income drop by more than a third.

More than half of all renting households are now worse off, even after the government measures to help.

Half said their renting experience during lockdown hurt their mental wellbeing, citing increased anxiety, stress, and depression.

When you’re renting it’s a less stable situation, and there is a power imbalance that we need to be realistic about.

There is also less targeted help available specifically for renters.

But that doesn’t mean there’s no help – there certainly is.

For the latest Cooking the Books podcast I talked to Robert Whitaker from Renters United.

We discussed the main issues facing renters currently, what rights renters have, and what financial help is available.

If you have a question you'd like answered in a future podcast, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook