Greens Announce Plan To End Homelessness & Fix Housing Crisis

The Green Party has announced today their new campaign A Home for Everybody, calling to end homelessness, fix renter’s rights, and end the housing crisis once and for all.

“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,” says Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson.

“In 2022, 46% of renting households spent more than 30% of their income on rent, compared to 19% of renters in 1988. Since 2003, house prices have increased by 230%, while the median household income has only increased by 137%.”

“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.”

Green Party Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick says “Every New Zealander needs to live in a warm, dry, stable home if we want a country that thrives, let alone a stable democracy. A Home for Everybody is how we make it happen. That means real renters’ rights, investing in public housing and ending homelessness.”

“This isn’t rocket science. Mass building of public housing almost 100 years ago led to decades of stable, affordable homes for New Zealanders. 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.”

To strengthen renters’ rights, the Greens would implement a Renter’s Rights Bill, cap rent increases at 2%, reverse no-cause evictions for rental stability, and introduce a Rental Warrant of Fitness to fix the holes in the Healthy Homes Standards.

To increase public housing, the Greens would build tens of thousands of quality, affordable public homes, and support community providers and councils with financing to provide more public housing in their communities. This would stimulate local economies and create local jobs, while reducing housing waitlists and homelessness in those same communities.

To prioritise housing as a necessity, not an investment, the Greens would reverse National’s billions of dollars of tax cuts for landlords and property speculators, so first-home buyers have a chance of putting down a deposit without losing out to wealthy investors.

Marama Davidson says, “By enacting meaningful policy, we can achieve secure, affordable housing for everyone, and benefit all New Zealanders in the process.”

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