Interviews with expert New Zealand house sharers display how persons with mental or stuff abuse troubles are discursively depicted as tolerable or unfit novel housemates. Save obvious slur, stereotyping, and prejudice, refusal is framed in terms of security, economic interest, social consensus, and prior nasty experiences. Mental illness is admissible given it is not tricky or manifest. Recreational soft drugs are overlooked, in contrast with hard drugs and recurrent use.