May 4, 2016

The needs of vulnerable, low-income families risk getting lost in the political tussle over healthy homes if a proven insulation scheme is left to flounder, says Wellington social enterprise Sustainability Trust.

The bid to set minimum standards for rental homes has picked up pace this week, with Labour’s Healthy Homes Bill set to have its first reading in Parliament today.

If it passes, it could muddy the waters for National, who has proposed similar changes in the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, due for its second reading in the next month.

Meanwhile, Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes, an already proven scheme which provides free ceiling and underfloor insulation to low-income households, is due to end in June.

“Without this scheme, low-income families are going to be out in the cold – we’re making an urgent call for the continuation of the Warm Up New Zealand programme,” Sustainability Trust chief executive Philip Squire says.

Squire says the programme has had a huge impact on the health of New Zealanders and there is still a lot of work to do.

“In Wellington alone, we estimate there are still over 20,000 vulnerable households that are low income and in need of assistance from Government and other funders to create a warm, healthy home,” says Squire.

Sustainability Trust is been a provider for the Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes programme since 2004 – it has installed insulation in more than 10,000 homes, and across the Wellington region the Trust and other partners have invested more than $6 million alongside subsidies of around $12 million from Government.

A recent Otago University analysis of Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes data found insulation retrofits reduced hospitalisation for children living in households where someone had a Community Services Card by 12 per cent, and for children living in private rentals by 19 per cent.

A similar Canterbury DHB Healthy Homes project which put $1.7 million into insulation and heating for homes of patients with housing-related health issues reduced hospitalisations by 15 per cent and hospital bed-nights by 29%. Canterbury DHB claims to have made its money back in a year.

“Those studies have shown conclusively that an insulation scheme like Warm Up New Zealand is not only the right thing to do, but there are big cost savings to made by the health sector,” says Squire.

Neither National’s Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill or Labour’s Healthy Homes Bill establish subsidies for low-income renters, which means vulnerable families would be relying on the willingness of their landlords to upgrade their properties. Low-income homeowners are also not accounted for in either of the proposed bills.

“As well as improving rental property standards and regulation, Government must put some flesh on these bones by providing provision in the Budget for vulnerable households. Without financial support, low-income households will be left out in the cold.”

Squire says the Healthy Homes Bill is an improvement on the Residential Tenancies Bill.

“We’d like to see minimum provisions for adequate heating and ventilation as well as insulation up to the current building code. Insulation, while an essential component of a healthy home doesn’t ensure a warm home.

“Requiring all rentals to have the baseline of an efficient heating source, adequate ventilation, and insulation will ensure a generation of New Zealanders will stay healthy, warm and out of hospital.”

ENDS

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