Greens Unveil Homes For All Plan

The Green Party has revealed its Homes for All Plan, which lays the foundations of an Aotearoa where everyone has a warm, dry and affordable home.

The Homes for All Plan will:

• Deliver enough affordable rental homes to clear the social housing waiting list within five years.
• Stimulate a sustainable non-profit rental sector by offering Crown financial guarantees for community providers to build new rental properties.
• Remove funding and regulatory barriers to encourage community housing projects.
• Expand the current Progressive Home Ownership and Warmer Kiwi Homes programmes.
• Make renting fairer through regulating property managers, and introducing a rental Warrant of Fitness
• Overhaul the building code.

Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today:

“Housing is a human right. We all deserve to live in a warm, dry home where we can put down roots and participate in our communities.

“Our plan announced today is a bold and cohesive blueprint to ensure we’re all in a warm, dry home, no matter where we live or whether we rent or own.

“Successive Governments have sold off too much social and community housing, while letting the homes we do have fall into disrepair.

“They’ve also allowed speculators to over-invest in property, pushing up house prices and leaving too many families struggling with the high cost of rent.

“The Green Party knows that a home is more than four walls. Having a safe and secure roof over your head is a cornerstone of a good life.

“Our Homes for All Plan will create a sustainable, non-profit rental sector, by offering Crown financial guarantees for Community Housing Providers, including iwi, to build new properties which can be rented out long-term.

“These homes would be managed as long-term rentals, giving people who rent real security.

“Homes for All is a comprehensive plan which ensures all of us can live in a healthy and secure home. It builds on the programmes we’ve launched this term, including the Progressive Home Ownership scheme.

“Retrofitting more existing homes through the expanded Warmer Kiwi Homes programme will make them healthier for families and reduce these homes’ impact on the planet.

“I’m really proud of the progress we’ve made in Government this term to address housing inequality. We’ve improved the lives of people who rent, introduced the Healthy Homes Standards for rentals, and with the Government’s support, delivered more social housing than any Government has in decades.

“The Green Party wants to go further and faster to ensure all of us a safe, healthy home. We’re building on what works, ensuring all of us have the chance to put down roots in our communities.

“Our Homes for All Plan is another example of the Greens thinking ahead, and acting now, to create a fairer Aotearoa.”