We are pleased that the Government has retained its pre election commitment to reducing state rents to 25% of income for low income tenants, and it was encouraging, too, that none of the submitters who came before the Social Services Select Committee actually opposed the overall direction of the Bill.
I believe that there is widespread public understanding of the need for this Bill especially in those districts where high rents have had a particularly profound impact on families.
The main problem with the Bill is, of course, that only a limited number of people will be able to avail themselves of the income related tenancies - some 40,000 we're told out of the much wider population who will be eligible. It is imperative that Government listens to the pleas of groups who work with low income people for a speed up in state house building and acquisition, for a new programme to assist low income people with deposits and mortgages; and for increased support for third sector housing alternatives.
During the Select Committee process the key change which the Green Party sought in this Bill was the inclusion of a clear statement committing Housing NZ to making environmental responsibility one of its principle objectives. A number of submitters made it clear that they, too, saw the clear intrinsic connection between meeting housing needs and environmental considerations.
We had commended the Government for adding social responsibility to the list of principle objectives for Housing NZ in this Bill, but we felt it was remiss to forget about environmental factors.
We saw this Bill as an opportunity for legislators in this country to begin to set new standards for housing, not just in the public sector, but more widely as well. It is a cruel hoax to provide a state house to a low income family, site it in a bog so that the kids will be forever getting sick, and burden them on top of that with high power and water bills due to lack of insulation, lack of natural light and so on.
Some of us on the Select Committee were lucky enough during the course of dealing with this Bill to have the opportunity to visit our Australian Social Services counterparts in Canberra and Melbourne. During this trip, we visited a public housing project in the ACT, which exemplified some of the different approaches that an environmentally conscious housing authority can take.
The complex of flats which we saw including units designed in every way to maximise heat and light in winter and shade and cool in summer; there was a grey water system to serve the entire block, as well as a worm farm for waste disposal and the creation of compost. Some tenants grew their own flowers and vegetables. Not only did all this create a delightful vision of what might be possible in ecological terms, it also demonstrably added monetary value to what had previously been run down and unloved public housing.
Environmental, fiscal and social responsibility are not in any way mutually exclusive - in fact, when all three are brought to bear they can enhance each other for the good of the Government's pocket as well as for the health and happiness of tenants.
In the past Housing NZ has been one of the landlords most highly resistant to improving the energy efficiency of the houses they own, even when financial help was offered to them. Private landlords have actually been much quicker to see the potential commercial benefits of energy efficient houses, even if the environmental benfits had not been one of their priorities.
By introducing an environmental principle at the highest level of Housing NZ's organisational mandate, we expecte this responsibility to flow down through the Statement of Corporate Intent into all the company's operations. It will be up to the Minister and the company to decide exactly how this environmental principle can best be incorporated into the company's activities in a practical way.
There are lots of living examples around this country and overseas about how even low cost housing can be environemntally friendly and sound, and we hope the company will be creative and open to external expert advice in its approach to meeting this new objective.
People who live in state housing are sick of generations of being treated as second class citizens. Just because you're on a low income doesn't mean you shouldn't live in a decent house, and this message came over loud and clear in almost all the submissions which came to us.
A month ago the Prime Minister spoke to the conference of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development. She said, and I quote: "I cannot overstate how excited I was to find in the corporate sector a group willing to stand up for a vision for our future which combines the economic, the environmental, and the social."
End quote I am similarly excited that the Greens have been able to begin the process of introducing the triple bottom line of social, environmental and economic responsibility to government agencies themselves. Government organisations still represent a large proportion of all economic activity. One of the key objectives of the Green Party is to see environmental and social responsibility permeate across the entire public sector. With this Bill, we have introduced the principles of environmental, social and economic responsibility to New Zealand's biggest landlord. The Prime Minister's speech also hailed the passage of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act, driven by my friend and Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons. This Bill complements that Act. Combined with extra energy efficiency funding in the budget, it should give Housing NZ the legislative mandate, and access to the resources and the expertise that it needs to improve the energy efficiency of its housing stock.
I look forward to the next step in this Government's moves to improve the housing situation for ordinary people in this country.
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