Greens stepping up with real political leadership

As the cost-of-living and housing crises deepen, the Green Party is putting forward a suite of policies aimed at delivering immediate relief and long-term structural change.

Props to the Green Party for having the courage to actually step up with some real political leadership on the issues that are confronting us!

This is their position on the fuel crisis…

Green Party policies on the fuel crisis

• Making public transport free for users;
• A Relief Payment for low income people or people who live rurally to help meet additional transport costs;
• A Windfall Profits Tax to prevent corporate price gouging;
• Reversing changes to school bus eligibility and routes, and temporary expansion of eligibility for school buses;
• Reversing the Government’s intended reduction in Total Mobility Support for disabled people; and
• Increase mileage rates to the 23,000 care and support workers to meet their actual travel costs.

…that is a list of real actions that will make a real difference in the lives of those being punished most by this illegal war in Iran!

Immediate relief measures for households

The Greens would have also condemned Trump and Israel for launching an illegal war in the first place!

This is their housing policy…

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 housing policy explained

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.”

GREENS

Fixing renters’ rights and housing affordability

…these are REAL solutions to the problems we are facing.

If we are to have any hope for a new Government, it will be the Greens doing the heavy lifting on the social issues.

Public housing and long-term solutions

At a time when many policies feel reactive or ideological, the Greens are presenting a framework that directly addresses inequality, cost pressures, and long-term stability — forcing a wider debate about what real leadership looks like.