Bridges: stop crowing and start funding

Simon Bridges is trying to have a bob each way on housing – he’s claiming the Warm Up New Zealand scheme as a success, while at the same time gutting the policy, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

“Simon Bridges’ arrogance knows no bounds. He is taking New Zealanders for fools. Kiwis know it’s simply not right to claim a scheme is a raging success, but then cut the funding.

“National replaced Warm Up New Zealand with a targeted insulation scheme that doesn’t go far enough and will see thousands of families continue to suffer in cold, damp homes.

“The funding the Government has allocated will only allow for the insulation of 1/6 of houses that are currently damp, cold and unhealthy.

“Treasury documents show that the funding allocated will fall well short of addressing this need, especially given the low uptake of the insulation subsidy in the rental sector.

“Treasury said; ‘insulating all low-income households with children would require significantly more than $150m in total and is unlikely to be achieved by the current scheme design’.

“Today, too many low-income families with children are living in unhealthy homes that are making them sick. National’s piecemeal approach is not good enough. By Treasury’s own calculations it won’t achieve its desired results and cutbacks will see over 1000 jobs in the sector slashed.

“Labour’s comprehensive Healthy Home Guarantee will ensure every rental property in New Zealand is warm and dry. Under Labour’s policy all rental housing (state, social and private sector) will be required to meet minimum health and safety standards based on the ‘warmth and dryness’ component of the Healthy Housing Index.

“New Zealanders want a Government that takes healthy homes seriously. For Labour, warm, dry homes are an urgent priority,” Phil Twyford said.

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