Nick Smith announces trial scheme to test the quality of 500 Housing New Zealand homes

Housing Minister Nick Smith has kicked off a trial Warrant of Fitness scheme that will test out 500 Housing New Zealand homes at an expected cost of $500,000.

Some local councils and the ACC are already undertaking WOF tests in five cities to tackle New Zealand's "cold and damp" older housing stock.

In announcing the Government-led trial today, Smith said this Government was committed to improving the quality of housing "to help achieve our goals of better social, health and educational outcomes for New Zealanders".

"Our first step was to insulate every state house that could be insulated. This was completed last year. The next step is developing a practical minimum standard and applying this to our state houses."

Labour’s housing spokesperson Phil Twyford said the WOF trial announcement was "a stunt" and Smith was refusing to tackle the real problem, "which is poor quality private sector rentals".

The trial WOF will check home quality in three main categories:

1. Insulated and dry: including ceiling and under floor insulation, ventilation and no obvious leaks in the roof or cladding;
2. Safe and secure: including for example smoke alarms, handrails on stairs;
3. Essential amenities: including for example functioning power points, food preparation facilities, and a functioning bath/shower and toilet.

There are actually 49 specific criteria that will be assessed as part of the WOF trial.

The Government also released a question-and-answer paper on the new scheme.

Smith said the trial scheme would be applied to the 500 sample Housing New Zealand homes between now and July.

"It is intended that the detailed criteria will be refined with experience. I am expecting Housing New Zealand to report later this year on the number of houses that pass, the deficiencies that have been identified in their housing stock, and a realistic timetable and cost to bring all houses up to the new standard. The results from the sample of 500 will also allow us to determine the proportion of Housing New Zealand’s houses that would meet the standard," Smith said.

A Technical Advisory Group has been established with representatives from the Building Research Association of New Zealand, Local Government New Zealand, Master Builders, the New Zealand Property Investors Federation, district health boards, the Accident Compensation Corporation, Beacon Pathway, and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. The group will provide on-going advice on the detailed assessment criteria.

"The plan is to then assess every Housing New Zealand home on a rolling three-year basis. We will initially exclude the 5000 earthquake-damaged homes in Christchurch until the scheduled repair work on them is complete. This new scheme will provide a far more robust reporting regime on the quality of our state houses," Smith said.

"The Government has not made any decisions about the wider application of the Warrant of Fitness to other social housing providers or the private rental market. Our first duty is to ensure our own house is in order. We also want to test the trial scheme to ensure it is practical and cost effective."

Labour's Twyford said that today's announcement was "Nick Smith trying to look like he is doing something about the problem of unhealthy housing. But he refuses to do the very thing that is needed, and that is tackle the problem of damp, cold private rental houses". 

“Most poor people live in private rentals. Only 4% of Kiwis live in state houses."

Twyford said if National truly cared about fixing the poor quality of rental houses, they would have the chance to vote for his Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill which may come up for its first reading tonight in Parliament.

"My bill will set minimum standards for insulation and efficient heating for all rental properties including the private sector."