Better building quality an election draw

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The Green Building Council says housing is set to be a major issue for this year's election – in particular the state of the houses New Zealanders live in.

Chief executive Andrew Eagles says a voting intentions survey commissioned by the council from Colmar Brunton found 50 percent of voters would respond positively to parties which promise to fix the quality of existing houses.

He says more than 40 percent of homes are damp or mouldy, leading to high rates of respiratory illness and hospitalisations.

That's because homes have been built without enough insulation, ventilation or heating – and the problem is set to continue.

"Compared with most of the OECD, the standard of our new build homes is quite low so we're not putting in enough insulation, we're not thinking about heating and other requirements most of the OECD has, and that means we don't have homes that are as healthy as they could be and they're expensive to heat," he says.

Andrew Eagles says tougher rules for rental properties imposed by the current Government are positive, but they also need to be similar protections for new home buyers, as well as an overhaul of building standards.

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