Healthy Homes

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• Update the New Zealand Building Code to improve sustainability and energy performance standards for new buildings, and ensure NZ building inspectors are trained to apply these standards.
• Support and expand programmes to make existing buildings more energy and water efficient, including extension of funding and eligibility for the Warm Up New Zealand insulation/clean heat scheme, and partnerships with mortgage providers to establish a facility for low interest loans. (more here)

• According to BRANZ, only 22% of New Zealand's rental properties are in good condition. 44% are in poor condition. These low quality rental homes are often cold and damp, with little or no insulation, making them an unhealthy living environment. These unhealthy homes area further burden on New Zealand's most vulnerable low-income communities.
• Labour will address this problem by introducing a Healthy Homes Guarantee. All rental homes will have to meet minimum standards of insulation and heating. Landlords already have obligations to their tenants in terms of cleanliness and maintenance - and labour will add warmth to the list. (more here)

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• Introduce a ‘warrant of fitness’ for all rental housing, to ensure no accommodation is let without basic standards being met, including sanitation, insulation, warmth, fire safety and the removal of any toxic materials. (more here)

• Installation of low cost heating and insulating 10,000 low-income homes per year including rental properties. (more here)

• Insulate 46,000 more homes, targeting low income households with high health needs in addition to the more than 250,000-plus homes already insulated. (more here)

• Require better building quality, and sustainable housing objectives Including leak proofing, insulation, and earthquake and landslip resistance. (more here)

• Adopt a national strategy, including private sector funding, to insulate all NZ homes to at least 1977 standards, prioritising the homes of those with low and fixed incomes.
• Require all dwellings sold to be assessed for energy efficiency (e.g. insulation, double glazing, heating methods, use of solar energy) and given a standardised energy efficiency rating. (more here)