Headline: Greens announce $60m investment in warming up Christchurch homes
Our Warm Up Christchurch policy will give the people of Christchurch a warmer home, instead of the National Government’s cold shoulder
The Green Party will make a $60 million investment in warming up Christchurch homes to build Christchurch back smarter, the Green Party announced today.
The Green Party’s Warm Up Christchurch policy will:
- create a fund of $25 million over two years to support Christchurch residents to insulate their home with wall insulation if they are still doing major repairs
- provide $2 million over two years to support a Building Back Smarter service to help Christchurch residents navigate the complexities of post-earthquake rebuilding
- restore the highly successful Warm Up New Zealand scheme to insulate and install clean heating devices to 200,000 homes across New Zealand at a cost of $300 million across three years, with $35 million ring-fenced for homes in the Canterbury region.
“Our Warm Up Christchurch policy will give the people of Christchurch a warmer home, instead of the National Government’s cold shoulder,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.
“Winter is coming, and an insulated home means a warm, healthy home. But for many families in Christchurch, such a home is still not a reality over three years on from the quakes.
“Warm Up Christchurch is about turning crisis into opportunity by making insulation and clean heating devices affordable for thousands of Christchurch residents.
“Our policy will mean that Christchurch residents can access grants to insulate their homes with floor and ceiling insulation and install clean heating devices through the nationwide Warm Up scheme. For houses in Christchurch still undergoing significant repairs, we will also meet half the cost of wall insulation.
“This is about letting Christchurch be built back smarter by providing extra support for Christchurch residents to make their homes warmer, healthier and more environmentally friendly than before.
“We can’t turn back the clock and fix National’s failure to address this issue, but we can fix the problem for the remaining homes in Christchurch that are awaiting repair,” said Mrs Turei.
The original Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart programme was part of the Green Party’s Memorandum of Understanding with National. It was a success, insulating 235,000 Kiwi homes and creating $1.3 billion of benefits, including through health and energy savings, as well as job creation.
“Unfortunately the National Government cut the scheme when it was just getting started,” said Mrs Turei.
“The Government’s massively scaled-back Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes scheme falls well short of addressing the extent of the problem of cold houses in New Zealand, with a target of insulating only 46,000 homes over three years and only around 12,000 houses insulated to date.
“There are still 600,000 households across New Zealand that would benefit from insulation and clean heating.
“We will insulate 200,000 homes over the next three years, as a first step towards achieving the original goal of the Warm Up scheme to insulate all poorly insulated houses in New Zealand.
“This is another example of our smart, green solutions for New Zealand.
“Home insulation and clean heating are the most powerful ways to reduce the cold and damp in New Zealand homes, and reduce power bills.
“All New Zealanders deserve a warm, dry and healthy home,” said Mrs Turei.
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