Housing
Provide financial assistance for housing to all tenants who need it through the accommodation supplement. Reduce the state’s involvement in housing. Provide ... the court with the address of a beneficiary who is a former tenant for the purpose of serving a court order for rent arrears or for compensation for property damage, and secondly to ensure charges for metered waste water are the responsibility of the tenant. Enable beneficiaries who are tenants to have their rent deducted at source, if they so choose. Encourage home ownership of state houses through rent-to-buy programs.
Ensuring there continues to be a public role in the provision of affordable housing at a rent of no more than 25% of household income Shifting the standard tenancy conditions towards more secure and predictable tenure arrangements and provide a simple legal framework for long-term tenancies as well as short-term tenancies Implementing the National Housing Strategy, provide appropriate resources to expand the provision of state housing and third sector housing Improving energy efficiency in homes and create drier, warmer, well-insulated homes through an expanded household energy efficiency program Encouraging the formation of broadly based regional housing forums as a means of jointly developing, implementing and monitoring housing policy at their local level
Expand the grants and low interest loans available through the Housing Innovation Fund, and make sure it is easy to use, with a focus on providing rental housing and home ownership opportunities Develop our own ‘equity share’ scheme where Housing New Zealand Corporation provides a modest equity contribution to help modest income families with buying a home with repayment being required on sale or refinance Our Mortgage Insurance Scheme will help people who can support a mortgage but can raise little or no deposit A one-off deposit subsidy up to $10,000 will be made available to couples who are first home buyers and who both belong to the KiwiSaver government-sponsored work-based savings scheme Home ownership education seminars will be run for up to 5,000 people a year
Promote the concept of home ownership. Investigate proven home ownership schemes. Examine the impact of the RMA on the availability of land for housing. Reintroduce and encourage the Home Buy scheme for HNZC tenants. Maintain the Accommodation Supplement.
Private [home] ownership provides an underlying social stability. Build or buy sufficient low income houses to address NZ's current housing crisis. Develop convertible rent-to-own schemes to encourage private owners. Include Government housing assistance schemes in Treaty of Waitangi settlements. Provide incentives for state housing tenants to maintain their residences to agreed standard.
Ensure that surplus state houses do not lie empty whilst long waiting lists exist in other areas Consider the sale of state houses with high valuations to purchase more properties for the same money Adopt a national strategy, including private sector funding, to insulate all NZ homes to at least 1977 standards Review the effectiveness of the accommodation supplement Investigate the constraints on increasing the supply of housing
