Government may extend healthy homes deadline for all landlords
The Government is looking at extending the deadline to meet Healthy Homes standards for all landlords, including Ka¯ inga Ora.
The healthy homes standards, introduced in July 2019, require minimum standards for heating, insulation and moisture in rental properties.
Since July 2021, private sector landlords have been required to meet healthy homes standards within 90 days of any new tenancy.
However, Crown agency Ka¯ inga Ora had a different timeframe, with a deadline of July 2023.
A spokesperson for Housing Minister Megan Woods said no decision had been made about granting an extension, but the Government was considering it. If an extension was decided, it would apply to all landlords.
On Thursday in Parliament, Woods was asked by ACT deputy leader Brooke van Velden if she was confident Ka¯ inga Ora would meet its deadline of July 1, 2023 to comply with the standards.
Replying on behalf of Woods, Carmel Sepuloni said landlords had faced challenges in complying with the healthy homes standards, with issues including pandemic-related delays in labour and materials.
‘‘We want to be pragmatic about our response to this, but that is currently under active Cabinet consideration, and so I cannot pre-empt a Cabinet decision,’’ she said.
More than 80% of Ka¯inga Ora’s tenanted housing stock met the standards or was being upgraded, with 68% at standard.
That compared with just over 51% in June.
The number of houses being upgraded each week had risen from 180 in June 2021 to 600 last month.
Van Velden said ACT obtained information that Labour was ready to give an extension to Ka¯ inga Ora, but not private landlords, and had been forced to include private landlords because it ‘‘got caught on the hop’’.
Crown agency Ka¯ inga Ora is Aotearoa’s largest landlord, owning or managing more than 68,000 homes across the country.