The government must take action now to ensure people’s right to healthy, secure housing. It should focus on: launching a massive public housing project that is funded, managed and run by the government; providing for a substantial increase in Māori housing and the removal of barriers to Māori housing; making housing accessibility and safety for disabled people a high priority; reducing building-related greenhouse gas emissions; and creating frameworks to ensure regenerative urban development that connects people within their communities.
Vision
Accessible, healthy, secure and sustainable housing for all in thriving communities.
Values and Principles
This housing policy must be consistent with the following values and principles:
- Honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi: Article 2 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi guarantees tangata whenua tino rangatiratanga over their taonga, which includes their whenua. Honouring this guarantee is fundamental to enabling housing developments, including papakāinga. Funding should be prioritised for Māori housing developments, with ownership and decision-making by Māori. Mātauranga Māori principles of design for housing and communities should be broadly applied across the whole housing sector to build adequate housing for all.
- Ecological Wisdom: Our communities must be life-sustaining. They should be designed, built or renovated using principles, materials and processes that are regenerative and minimise negative environmental impacts.
- Social Responsibility: People should have access to healthy, affordable and secure homes that support wellbeing and enable connected, inclusive communities. Housing needs to be designed as universally accessible so that all groups in the community have equitable access to appropriate and affordable housing.
- Appropriate Decision-Making: Communities should be actively involved in decisions that affect the places they live. Decision making should particularly consider the interests of those who have been marginalised, and actively ensure their inclusion in community engagement processes.
- Non-Violence: Vested private interests that seek to maintain control of housing should be mitigated by the government through legislation and engagement to neutralise the power imbalance. No one should be forced to move out of their home without a suitable alternative being provided.
- Decommodification: Housing should be seen as a fundamental human need and right, not something that is traded for capital gains and profits that serve to perpetuate inequality. Basically, houses should be homes.
- Housing security: People should be able to live in their home or community for as long as they wish, regardless of ownership. Having generations of family/whānau living together contributes to stable and healthy communities.
- Housing for disabled people: Disabled people have the right to live in accessible housing both wherever and with whomever they choose to live with.
Strategic Priorities
The Green Party’s strategic goals include:
“Healthy homes within thriving neighbourhoods will be available to everyone. People will be part of caring communities with a strong heritage fabric and easy access to the natural environment.”
Actions in this policy that will help achieve this include:
- Implement large increases in funding and redeployment of Crown funds for Māori-led housing solutions and Māori community housing providers, ensuring funding is adaptable to the needs of Māori communities and reflects tino rangatiratanga. (1.8)
- Enshrine the right for all New Zealanders to housing in legislation that requires the State to ensure all New Zealanders are adequately housed in safe, healthy, accessible, affordable housing in line with the UNCRPD and NZ Disability Strategy. (2.1)
- Establish a Ministry for Green Works to ensure supply of suitable housing for all New Zealanders. (4.1)
- Ensure, through regulation and standards, that buildings and their surroundings are designed, constructed, renovated and repurposed to better provide for the wellbeing of people and mitigate climate change. (3.1)
- Establish representative housing committees in all local communities that reflect both home-owners and renters, ensuring diversity of representation for minority or underserved groups, with good communication with regional housing forums. (7.2)
- Ensure that tax, monetary and fiscal policy, and controls on banks incentivise productive investment, rather than speculation in property. (5.1)
- Ensure public spaces are designed consistent with the intended urban density. (6.3)
- Prioritise equity in applying universal urban design. (6.4)
Connected Policies
This policy relates to our Environmental Protection, Climate Change, Energy, Transport and Economic Policies and, through the actions below, also seeks to implement our Education, Disability, Local Government and Workforce policies.
