UnitedFuture shares the kiwi dream of home ownership. We will work to achieve affordable, secure, warm, dry housing. We are acutely aware of the difficulties that first-time buyers face in purchasing their first home, and are committed to pursuing policies to help people into their own homes.
It is UnitedFuture policy to:
- Encourage home ownership by allowing families to capitalise their Working For Families entitlements for a year as a lump sum to help purchase their first home, extend existing homes, or increase equity in a home;
- Investigate alternative local body funding arrangements with the aim of abolishing rates on domestic and commercial properties;
- Continue to sell state houses with very high valuations (some are over $1 million), or those properties that are not configured for those who need them (e.g. too few or too many bedrooms), and use the proceeds to purchase other properties for use as state houses;
- Focus on increasing affordable housing for families with children as a priority;
- Extend the provision of community housing;
- Work in partnership with iwi to develop former Crown land, including land returned through Treaty settlements, for housing;
- Review Housing NZ tenancies on an annual basis to ensure that the occupants still meet the criteria and to ensure that housing stock is fairly allocated, and encourage long-term tenants into home ownership (either on the private market or rent-to-buy their state house);
- Strengthen legislation to allow Housing NZ to evict problematic tenants more easily;
- Extend the existing scheme in which Work and Income NZ deducts Housing NZ rentals directly from benefits to include private sector rentals;
- Promote co-housing as an option for older people to join together to create and manage their own accommodation;
- Continue to promote energy efficient homes and technology via the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA);
- Continue to fund EECA for a comprehensive nationwide programme of retro-fitting existing homes with energy saving improvements (including better insulation, low-flow shower heads, solar water heating etc);
- Require all existing dwellings sold or advertised to rent to be assessed for energy efficiency (e.g. insulation, double glazing, heating methods, and use of solar energy) and given a standardised energy efficiency rating;
- Require all new homes to be given a standardised energy efficiency rating based on insulation, double-glazing, heating methods, use of solar energy, etc. These ratings can be similar to the ratings seen on cars or household appliances.