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National | Green Party

Greens launch 'Homes for All' election policy

Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw at today's Homes for All Plan announcement in Auckland.  Source/Facebook.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson has revealed the party's Homes for All Plan today, which she says lays the foundations for everyone to have a warm, dry and affordable home.

“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," Davidson said during a speech in Auckland today.

“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."

We know we need more affordable housing. Listen to my speech in the beautiful city of Tāmaki Makarau, announcing our next big Green policy.

Posted by Marama Davidson MP on Saturday, August 8, 2020

According to Davidson, there are more than 18,000 households in New Zealand waiting for a home.

"The Green Party will ensure the Crown build programme delivers enough affordable new rental properties to clear the waiting list within five years. We will do this while ensuring no net loss of publicly owned land."

She acknowledged that Māori were disproportionately impacted by the housing crisis and said the Green Party would support Māori-led solutions.

"We must create a non-profit rental industry, which focuses on homing people long-term, not making money.

"And we will empower community housing providers, hapū, and iwi, so they can scale up and expand their forward-thinking and innovative solutions," she said.

"We know Māori are disproportionately represented across all areas of the housing crisis. Part of ensuring everyone in Aotearoa has a home is affirming the leadership of iwi and hapū.

"Our plan shows we know how essential it is to have a tangata whenua response to all parts of the housing crisis.

"Māori have the enduring solutions to take care of their communities, and the Crown has a Tiriti obligation to support that."

The Green Party says 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; and
  • overhaul the Building Code.