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Archived 2005 Housing Policy - Living Well

Sue Bradford MP

Note: This was the policy released for the 2005 election. An updated policy for the 2008 election will be released shortly.

Read the Housing Policy Summary



Contents

Introduction

Vision

Key Principles

Specific Policy Points:

  1. Housing Affordability
  2. Housing is an ongoing basic need
  3. Making home ownership possible
  4. Providing secure and affordable social housing
  5. Expanding the third sector
  6. Ensuring private renting is affordable
  7. No one should be left homeless
  8. Housing decisions should come from the community
  9. Recognising the Treaty of Waitangi
  10. Supported housing for those in need
  11. Rural housing
  12. Building for sustainable transport, healthier communities, and individual well being
  13. Sustainable buildings do not harm the environment
  14. Strengthening the housing workforce

Introduction

Safe and secure housing is fundamental to the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, communities and the environment.

The Green Party recognises housing as a basic human right. Those without a home or living in inadequate accommodation are more vulnerable and less able to participate fully in the wider community. Poor housing creates problems that adversely affect the education and health systems and the wider community.

Building design, processes and materials have a major impact on the environment. How we build our homes — the energy efficiency of their design, ease of access to an energy supply, the extent to which their component parts are made from recyclable non-toxic materials — all these factors have the power to damage or protect the natural world.

We believe that all people are entitled to secure tenure of affordable, appropriate and sustainable housing and that housing decisions must help strengthen communities and enhance ecological sustainability. The Green Party is committed to seeing these goals realised.

Vision

The Greens envision a New Zealand in which:

  • Everyone is able to access good quality, affordable, secure and appropriate housing.
  • Housing is designed and built to sustainable building principles.
  • Planning, social service, and health agencies along with local communities, provide input into decisions on housing developments and their location.
  • Housing policy and funding enable a diverse mix of housing in all localities.

Key Principles

  1. Housing is a social good and a basic right. This means that no one should be prevented from establishing a home because of low income and that all people should have secure tenure of appropriate and decent housing.
  2. Decisions on location and design of housing developments must be informed by democratic input from communities of interest; must meet the social and physical needs of the community; and must accommodate a mix of ages, cultures, impairments and incomes.
  3. Housing developments should optimise land use, be located to reduce car use, and be designed and built according to sustainable building principles, technologies and practices.
  4. Energy saving and resource conserving technologies and practices must be promoted for all buildings.
  5. Iwi and hapu rights under Te Tiriti o Waitangi to develop culturally appropriate housing within a sustainability framework must be supported.

Specific Policy Points

Housing is connected to many other issues such as health, community development, education, transport, and employment; and housing policy needs to be fully integrated with policies in these areas. Green housing policies need to be read alongside our policies in these other areas as part of an overall effort to help build more sustainable and self-reliant communities.

Housing is a social good and a basic right

1. Housing Affordability

The Green Party believes that people should be able to live in appropriate and sustainably built housing for a cost of no more than 25% of their income unless they freely choose otherwise. For an increasing proportion of the population this is becoming very difficult, if not impossible. For those who want to buy their homes, relatively high interest rates, high property prices, and high costs for rental accommodation prevent many from accumulating an adequate deposit, let alone the payment of a mortgage. The Green Party believes that the private marketplace cannot accommodate the housing needs of everyone. Central and local government must play lead roles in developing policies to ensure that all New Zealanders have their housing needs met.

2. Housing is an ongoing basic need

As housing needs change over time, it is crucial that housing policy and provision is based on the latest and best possible information.

The Green Party will:

  1. Make use of existing surveys based on census information and demographic statistics to establish and maintain an overview of housing need.
  2. Carry out further research at the local and regional levels, with support from the Housing Research Centre.

3. Making home ownership possible

Many low to middle income households can no longer afford to buy their own homes. The Greens believe that government should play a more pro-active role in encouraging higher levels of home ownership.

The Green Party will:

  1. Re-establish a Universal Child Benefit, providing an option to capitalise the benefit towards an initial housing deposit.
  2. Change income support systems so that savings towards a deposit are not treated as assets for benefit abatement.
  3. Evaluate and modify the Kiwibank 'In Reach' programme to make it accessible to all low income New Zealanders.
  4. Increase the provision of low interest financing for low-income households seeking home ownership and evaluate options such as shared equity and supported savings schemes for first home buyers.
  5. Maintain a commitment to nurturing third sector housing schemes that encourage moves towards home ownership, both individual and collective.



4. Providing secure and affordable social housing

The Green Party believes that the private marketplace cannot accommodate the housing needs of everyone. Central and local government must play leading roles in developing policies to ensure that all New Zealanders have their local housing needs met. Social housing, which includes state housing, local government housing, and community sector housing, offers the potential to provide affordable rental accommodation to large numbers of people.

The current acquisition rate of social housing falls far short of meeting the surge in demand for affordable rental accommodation. State housing waiting lists are so long that only those assessed as the most desperate have any chance of getting a state house. There is also a decline in social housing proportionally within the overall rental market because the number of private rental properties is increasing rapidly and income-related rents are not dampening the private rental market.

The Green Party will:

  1. Ensure that the Housing New Zealand Corporation has resources to significantly increase its rate of acquisition and building of state housing units, to increase the total proportion of state houses in the rental market.
  2. Maintain an income related rental policy of 25% of income for Housing New Zealand Corporation tenants.
  3. Undertake land banking in areas of high housing demand to provide adequate future supply for government, local government, and third sector housing.
  4. Facilitate the release of surplus local authority land in order to provide an adequate future land supply for government, local government and third sector housing.
  5. Encourage local government to build more homes, and retain the social housing stock that they currently own.
  6. Make sure new state housing is integrated sensitively within the community, near facilities and services, and that buildings are designed for flexibility of use.
  7. Ensure that new state housing is designed in accordance with the community decision-making and sustainable building practices components of this policy.
  8. Give priority for social housing to people who are living in extremely substandard or overcrowded accommodation, pregnant women, adults with dependent children, elderly or disabled family members, people recovering from mental illness, and people with physical or intellectual impairments.



5. Expanding the third sector

Community based housing can provide greater flexibility and diversity in housing provision and tenure. By funding a diverse mix of housing options in the public and community sectors we will better meet the needs of our diverse society. Third sector organisations are voluntary, independent, not for private profit, and act in a way that benefits the wider community and physical environment. By playing an integral part in driving community economic development, the third sector helps to build stronger communities.

The Green Party will:

  1. Create an enabling legislative and regulatory environment that actively encourages third sector involvement in the provision of a diverse range of secure, decent and affordable housing, particularly in areas of high need.
  2. Encourage the use of grants and loans for third sector housing.
  3. Support the establishment of community land trusts, where provision can be made for housing that is affordable and appropriate.
  4. Ensure that community based housing organisations that obtain government funding will be subject to scrutiny of their allocation criteria and procedures, housing quality, and rental and affordability policies.
  5. Remove legal and institutional barriers to the development of a range of housing tenures and styles, e.g., co-operative housing, eco-villages, self-built, sweat equity housing, shared ownership, and papakainga housing.
  6. Support the development of community design centres to provide design and engineering advice.



6. Ensuring private renting is affordable

In many regions, rent increases outstrip income growth and push those on low or fixed incomes out of their homes and communities. The Residential Tenancies Act fails to ensure that renters are protected by increases in market rent, or other arbitrary rent increases. The Green Party believes that renting can be a good alternative to home ownership. Renters should have security of tenure and should have access to affordable rental accommodation.

The Green Party will:

  1. Provide a better framework for the development of secure and affordable long-term rental accommodation as a housing option including:
    1. Shifting the standard tenancy conditions towards more secure and predictable tenure arrangements;
    2. Providing a simple legal framework for long-term tenancies as well as short-term tenancies;
  2. Provide more government support for tenants' advocacy groups.
  3. Ensure legislation provides fairness, clear processes and equity for both tenants and landlords and support the current major Government review of the Tenancy Act.



7. No one should be left homeless

A lack of affordable housing is also problematic for people needing emergency housing, such as those who have been affected by family violence, and for people who are recovering from mental illness or substance abuse within the community. In extreme cases, a lack of affordable housing leads to homelessness. Homelessness has become an increasingly common phenomenon in New Zealand society in the last 20 years in both rural and urban settings. The Greens will:

  1. Create a legally binding duty on the public sector to ensure housing needs are met, and that the Housing New Zealand Corporation, local governments, and the community sector work together in meeting this obligation.
  2. Ensure that Housing New Zealand Corporation, local governments, and the community sector work together to provide short-term emergency housing.
  3. Give priority for social housing to people who are homeless or who are living in extremely substandard or over crowded accommodation without requiring that they move away from their home district.
  4. Ensure that emergency short-term housing is available for people who are homeless because of emergencies, such as flood, fire or earthquake, without requiring that they move away from their home district.
  5. Acknowledge that, for a small group of people, 'living rough' is a matter of choice and that these people should not be confused with the bulk of homeless and ill-housed people. Those who choose to be homeless have needs that can and should be met somewhat differently, for example by adequately resourcing voluntary agencies that provide night shelters, day drop-in centres and ancillary support services.
  6. Support allowing Work and Income New Zealand to deduct rent at source with the tenant's agreement.



8. Housing decisions should come from the community

Decisions about housing development ought to involve the meaningful participation of the affected community. Community involvement can improve social cohesion, and ensure a commitment to sustainability.

The Green Party will:

  1. Put in place the legislative and regulatory structures to provide for community consultation in planning and building of new housing developments in order to have real influence over development outcomes affecting the existing and future community.
  2. Encourage the formation of regional housing forums with representatives from community based organizations, housing organizations, local government, private sector, building industry, consumer groups, and tenants' groups as a means of jointly developing, implementing and monitoring housing policy at their local level.
  3. Ensure that Housing New Zealand Corporation management structures become more responsive to individual circumstances and local needs.
  4. Create community owned development banks to facilitate local housing development and purchase through innovative lending and guarantee structures. Government may be able to assist in the provision of low cost finance.



9. Recognising the Treaty of Waitangi

Our colonial history, including theft of land from Maori, has left Maori more likely than any other group of New Zealanders to live in poor quality or overcrowded homes, and spending proportionally more of their income on accommodation. Moreover, the Green Party recognises that under Te Tiriti o Waitangi the Crown has committed to work in partnership with Maori to uphold rangatiratanga by finding solutions to the crisis in Maori housing.

The Green Party will:

  1. Ensure that central government works with iwi, hapu and urban Maori to support the development and implementation of policies that address their needs.
  2. Support papakainga and local iwi and hapu third sector housing, and the extension of Housing New Zealand Corporation's urban renewal project, aimed at improving housing and neighbourhood quality.



10. Supported housing for those in need

Our society needs safe and supported accommodation to be there for those most vulnerable members of our society who cannot support themselves. Those with mental health or substance abuse problems, victims of domestic violence, older people on fixed incomes, disabled people and the homeless, will all at times need safe places to go to and may not be in a position to pay.

The Green Party will:

  1. Work with local authorities, NGOs, and community groups to improve resources for housing projects that meet particular needs, such as for people with mental, physical and intellectual impairments, pregnant women, adults with dependent children, elderly and/or disabled family members, people with physical or intellectual impairments and people recovering from mental illness.
  2. Work with local authorities to require development contributions from large developments to help build affordable housing for low income households where their needs are not being met.
  3. Urgently address the huge shortfall of secure, affordable and appropriate housing for those living with, and recovering from, mental illness and addictions.
  4. Work with local authorities to improve the co-ordination between social and health agencies, and planning and housing departments.
  5. Introduce measures to support older people on low incomes and disabled people so that they can maintain their lifestyle in their own homes, or move into nearby housing that is more suited to their needs.



11. Rural housing

People should have the right to live in their ancestral districts or in those districts where they have chosen to make their home. Rural housing remains inadequate and substandard in many parts of New Zealand, particularly in Northland, the East Coast and the Bay of Plenty. Tangata whenua are particularly disadvantaged, as multiple land ownership still presents an almost impenetrable barrier to home ownership.

The Green Party will:

  1. Increase funding and support to repair and renovate rural housing, and when housing is assessed as 'beyond repair', provide support for the acquisition of another house in the same community, when at all possible.
  2. Put in place programmes to ensure access to basic water, sanitation and cooking requirements, wherever these are lacking, and include retrofitting for energy efficiency as part of this process.
  3. Enable hapu, iwi and pan-iwi bodies to play a key role in decision-making and facilitate the development of housing on communally owned land.
  4. Evaluate and where desirable strengthen existing Government schemes such as those through LDRL (Low Deposit Rural Loans), SHAZ (Special Housing Action Zone) and NECBOP (Northland, East Coast, and Bay of Plenty) to make them more effective.



Houses for a sustainable future

12. Building for sustainable transport, healthier communities, and individual well being

Where we build our houses has a major impact on future transport needs and on the well-being and maintenance of community infrastructure. The quality of design and maintenance of houses has direct links to the quality of our health and social life. Poor, overcrowded, and badly situated housing can also effect our education, physical and mental health, and employability.

The Greens will:

  1. Make council approval for housing development dependent on the applicant's demonstration of how the development will minimise any adverse impact on the existing transport infrastructure.
  2. Ensure the housing development and subdivision provisions of district plans minimise car use and increase potential for public transport use by encouraging housing which is in close proximity to public transport links, places of work, community, and shopping centres.
  3. Promote interaction between diverse people locally and incorporate 'routes of connectivity' (pedestrian and public transport) with existing community facilities (parks, other recreation facilities, schools, pre-schools, shops, local businesses, medical facilities, churches, marae and nearby residential communities), via accessible pathways, pedestrian friendly roadways, and open spaces.
  4. Support mixed-use zones where small business and residential living can both be accommodated.
  5. Safeguard good horticultural and agricultural land, particularly that bordering urban areas, from intensive housing developments.
  6. Ensure the review of the Building Code takes into account:
    1. The human health implications of toxins used in the manufacture of building components;
    2. The health of the workers who manufacture the building materials, the builders, and the building's occupants; and
    3. The health implications of indoor air quality and of the disposal of the toxic components at the end of the building's life.
  7. Provide support to industries that produce locally sourced non-toxic building materials.
  8. Provide matched funding for local authorities that take active measures to support social housing or low income retrofitting programmes.
  9. Work with local authorities to develop urban density design guides for future medium-density housing. These guides will cover areas such as acoustic and visual privacy, and put in place minimum thresholds for viable green space, and avoiding both urban sprawl and over crowding, and require active community input and quality control.
  10. Ensure planning and housing development recognises the importance of many existingbuildings, structures and places as community landmarks, which provide a sense of identity and connection with our historic heritage.
  11. Strengthen protections for historic heritage and increase incentives to retain, conserve and upgrade existing buildings and structures, particularly where they have significance as historic heritage.
  12. Support the development of local design centres to provide design and engineering advice.



13. Sustainable buildings do not harm the environment

The building industry has a huge impact on the consumption of resources, energy, production, and disposal of waste (including air and water pollution). A building's design locks into place the energy and water use requirements for the building. The materials used have implications for energy use and pollution in their extraction, processing and transporting. They can also potentially create unhealthy conditions for both workers and inhabitants.

Despite sustainable cities being one of the four main areas targeted in the Government's recent Action Plan for Sustainable Development, little is said either about housing or about sustainable building and design. More practical and concerted action is needed. The Green Party believes it is vital for the Government to play a role in setting standards, developing educational information for both industry and the general public, and promoting sustainable building through establishing incentives to encourage sustainable building in both planning and housing matters.

Sustainable houses use low energy design, low energy-use waste and sewage disposal, local renewable sources of building materials and conserve common resources such as water. They can be 'low tech' self built constructions, and must make ecologically sensitive use of land.

The Green Party will:

  1. Develop a sustainable building strategy, drawing on the wealth of overseas examples, which sets standards for use of building materials. This will include: minimum requirements to be met from a mandatory life cycle analysis of design and component materials i.e. from 'cradle to grave', looking at energy use (embodied energy), pollution, waste products and other negative impacts on land and people — including initial extraction, mining and/or harvesting, through to transport costs, accessible building use, flexibility of the design, waste disposal and recycling implications.
  2. Expand and strengthen the Action Plan for Sustainable Development and ensure that all new buildings conform to sustainable building principles by 2008.
  3. Require, as part of a National Policy Statement on Sustainable Energy, that all district plans provide for solar access on roofs and north walls to facilitate the use of solar energy.
  4. Update the Building Code for new houses to:
    1. Include energy performance standards that truly reflect likely future costs of energy, and regional climate differences; and
    2. Encourage solar design by including performance measures that are more easily met if the principles of passive solar design are used; and
    3. Ensure it allows for the installation of high-efficiency wood stoves within air quality standards.
    4. Ensure that the review of the Building Code incorporates the sustainability elements developed by the sustainable building strategy.
  5. Provide education, training and promotion for the sustainability requirements that encourage passive solar design in the new Building Act, including training for architects and builders, and information targeted at people buying new homes.
  6. Ensure that government takes a lead role in the implementation of sustainable building principles and that all new Housing New Zealand Corporation stock should be built to sustainable building and design principles.
  7. Develop partnerships with mortgage providers to establish a facility for 'solar mortgages' for new houses, which increase the amount that can be borrowed for solar water heater or solar design features.
  8. Develop and promote educational resources about sustainable building for use within the building industry.
  9. Encourage demonstration projects in sustainable building.
  10. Support and expand programmes to make existing homes more energy and water efficient including:
    1. Developing an energy-demand labelling system for houses and require houses to carry such labels if they are put up for sale.
    2. Establishing locally based advisory service to provide free or low cost audits of homes and advise on measures to improve their energy efficiency and incorporate renewable energy options.
    3. Setting targets and timetables and increased funding in order to significantly accelerate the rate of domestic energy efficiency retrofits (including insulation and damp proofing of homes) and expand training schemes for auditors and installers.



14. Strengthening the housing workforce

There has been a general decline in building standards, with quality being sacrificed to quantity and speed. Houses need to be designed and constructed to last at least 100 years.

The Green Party will:

  1. Put in place measures to increase the number and quality of trained builders and craftspeople in the building industry.
  2. Develop on the job apprenticeships and training programmes within the Housing New Zealand Corporation's major building strategy and other public building projects.
  3. Develop a cross-sector approach to encourage and support the development and use of innovative materials and techniques, with particular emphasis on revising the building consent process to enable the obtaining of building consents for innovative building technique.
  4. Support the registration system for 'licensed building practitioners' aimed at improving the skill and professionalism of the building industry.
  5. Review Building Act regulations to reduce their impact on DIYers and owner builders.
  6. Link the expansion of Housing New Zealand Corporation's building and acquisition programme to local employment and apprenticeship schemes.
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