Green Party housing policy pledges to remove interest deductibility for landlords, build more public housing and cap rent increases at 2% per year

Building "tens of thousands" of public homes, capping rents, ending homelessness and removing interest deductibility for landlords are all on the agenda of the Green Party's housing policy.

The Greens' housing policy, A Home for Everybody, was released on Wednesday afternoon, well ahead of November's election.

It includes reversing the Coalition Government's $2.9 billion interest deductibility on residential investment property for landlords. It also includes capping rent increases to no more than 2% per year and creating a national register for landlords, property managers and boarding houses “to ensure professional accreditation, transparency, and regulatory compliance across the rental property sector.”

The Greens made their announcement at a rental home in the Wellington suburb of Te Aro.

"In a country like Aotearoa, with our wealth of resources and skills, there is no excuse for people to go without a decent home, let alone any home at all," Greens co-leader Marama Davidson says.

“The idea that housing is a human right should not be controversial. And yet, successive governments have allowed housing to be treated as an investment asset first, and a human necessity second.”

"Homelessness, the housing crisis, and unacceptable, unsafe housing conditions are political choices, and we will make every choice we can to end them," Davidson says.

Chloe Swarbrick, the Greens other co-leader, says this isn’t rocket science.

“Mass building of public housing almost 100 years ago led to decades of stable, affordable homes for New Zealanders,” she says.

“Other countries have shown how sensible, practical policies to strengthen renter’s rights and common sense tax settings, to stop housing being treated as a state-sanctioned casino, means more affordable homes.”

Here’s a breakdown of the Green Party’s housing policy:

Making homes more affordable

• Build more affordable homes by making sure planning law allow more homes to be built in towns and cities connected to public transport, shops and community facilities
• Requiring councils to enable at least as much development capacity as required by long-term population growth - even in existing urban areas
• Remove regulatory and financial barriers for Māori to build on their own land
• Scale up the Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga programme to fund more Māori housing initiatives
• Reverse National’s $2.9 billion tax deductions for landlords and property speculators
• Ensure accessible housing is affordable by providing funding for housing modifications so disabled people can afford housing that is for for purpose, and strengthen regulations and incentives for the construction of universally designed housing

Renting

• Cap rent increases at no more than 2% per year
• Get rid of no cause evictions, so tenants have longer term security
• Implement an independently certified Rental Warrant of Fitness
• Create a national register of all landlords, property managers and boarding houses

Build more public housing

• Build tens of thousands of new, affordable, and accessible public homes across Aotearoa
• Increase long-term funding and financing for councils and community housing providers so they can provide more public housing in their communities
• Invest in domestic prefabrication and off-site manufacturing to make building public homes easier and cheaper
• Making sure Kāinga Ora and community housing providers are funded to build enough accessible housing to meet the needs of disabled people - instead of leaving it to the market

Homelessness

• Creating a ‘Duty to Assist’ law which would put legal duty on agencies to ensure people have the housing they need
• Reverse the Government’s changes to emergency accommodation eligibility criteria
• Have same-day emergency housing assistance until that person has suitable housing
• Boosting funding for wrap-around support and community organisations