A year after private rental properties had to comply with Healthy Homes requirements, just 50 per cent of state houses meet those standards, National’s Housing spokesperson Chris Bishop says.
“The Government owns 64,000 homes around New Zealand, but its own figures show that just over 50 per cent meet the Healthy Homes standards. It just isn’t good enough.
“There’s now less than a year until the Healthy Homes standards kick in for Kainga Ora state homes, with around 30,000 homes still to be upgraded.
“All private rental properties have had to comply with the standards for any new or renewed tenancy since July last year, but the Government has excluded itself from their own rules.
“It seems doubtful that the Government will have their homes compliant in time, leaving vulnerable Kiwis in sub-standard homes.
“This is a bitter pill to swallow for the private landlords up and down the country who followed the rules. The hypocrisy is industrial-strength and is emblematic of a government that has simply failed to deliver in housing.
“Rents are up $150 per week, the state house waiting list is up by more than 20,000 since Labour took office, $1 billion has been spent on emergency housing in the last five years, and Kainga Ora have barely built more homes than they have demolished in 2022.
“Labour has failed on housing, and this is yet another failure to add to the long list.”