House WoF dismissed as step back
Ski season looking all white in both islands
THE Government won’t support ‘‘extreme measures’’ like warrant of fitness checks for all houses because it will drive up rent and push housing stock out of the market, says Finance Minister Bill English.
But Labour MP Phil Twyford, whose Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill was voted down in Parliament, said the Government needed to wake up to the fact that houses were ‘‘crap quality’’ and were putting children in hospital with Third World illnesses.
Labour was calling for crossparty support for its bill to ensure every rental property in the country – state or private – met a minimum standard of living, including heating and insulation.
Twyford said retrofitting a standard New Zealand house with floor and ceiling insulation and a heat pump would only cost about $5000. That investment would last 15-20 years, he said.
Labour leader Andrew Little had resubmitted Twyford’s bill but English told TVNZ’s Q+A it was unlikely the Government would adopt it because it would result in ‘‘mass inspection of every house in the country’’.
‘‘We’re not going to adopt extreme measures. We want to get something practical and affordable that will start lifting the standard,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re trying to find the solution that helps lift the standard of housing without making the problem worse by forcing housing stock out of the market or people out of houses they can no longer afford.’’
The standard of living in state houses is back on the political agenda after the death of an Auckland toddler in August last year.
The coroner’s report into the toddler’s death said the poor condition of the state house in Otara was a contributing factor to Emma-Lita Bourne’s death.
Little said the Government’s unwillingness to support a warrant of fitness system for homes showed ‘‘more short-sightedness and irresponsibility’’.
‘‘We know our housing stock is of a very low quality . . . we do need some minimum standards of housing and they do need to include heating and insulation and they need to be healthy homes.’’
Last year the Government trialled a warrant of fitness on 500 state houses which included checks on insulation, leaks, smoke alarms, toilets and power points.
But Housing Minister Nick Smith was reluctant to extend the warrants to all public and private rentals because if the Government prohibited the rental of homes unless they were fully insulated it would mean taking 100,000 homes off the market.
Little said no policy would throw people out of their homes, and reasonable measures and timetables would be put in place to get the work done. That might include improving homes at an ‘‘opportune time’’, such as when a tenant moved out.
The Green Party also called for a warrant of fitness for all rentals and challenged the Government to adopt their bill. ‘‘No New Zealand child should be expected to go through winter living in a cold, damp home,’’ co-leader Metiria Turei said. THIS year’s ski season is shaping up to be one of the best in years as the South Island’s skifields prepare to open over the coming weeks.
In the North Island, Turoa and Whakapapa both have about 10cm of snow at base level and are scheduled to open on June 27. More snow is forecast for the two skifields on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Remarkables field in Queenstown opens on June 20 with a new base station. Construction crews have been working around the clock in all weather to make sure it is ready for the upcoming season. The final panes of glass are due to be installed this week.
Over the past few months, about 460 truckloads of concrete and 140 tonnes of structural steel have made their way up the mountain access road to create the form of the Michael Wyatt-designed building.
Mt Hutt skifield is due to open on Friday. General operations manager James Urquhart said the Canterbury field currently had about 35 centimetres of snow on its slopes.
‘‘It is looking really good,’’ he said. ‘‘It is about a thousand times better than this time last year. It is in really good shape and we are really excited about the prospect of a good season, which we haven’t seen for a number of years.’’
Canterbury’s Porters ski area plans to open on June 19, complete with a new chairlift, which should be able to carry 2000 skiers an hour up the slope, double the current T-bar’s capacity.
Roundhill Ski Area manager Simon Murrell said the Lake Tekapo skifield received about 35cm of snow in the last flurry.
‘‘That was a good start. We are hoping for a good season. We will hopefully see a few more storms come through this year.’’
MetService meteorologist Steven Glassey said southern skifields would be helped by a southwest change bringing colder temperatures to the South Island on Thursday. He also said the outlook for June was cooler than usual, with below average temperatures, particularly in the last two weeks of the month.
Seas in the New Zealand region are cooling off faster than usual under the El Nino weather system, which often means a cooler winter.