Pledging to fix poor-quality homes could win a political party more than a million votes
Committing to improve the deplorable state of New Zealand’s unhealthy homes could potentially swing the vote of more than a million voters, a recent poll has suggested.
A recent ConsumerLink survey commissioned by the Green Building Council found that one in three New Zealanders would be more likely to cast their votes for a party that promised to significantly and urgently improve the state of unhealthy homes in New Zealand when in government.
In what appears to be a tight election year, the Green Building Council said any party pledging to fix poor-quality homes could tip the election scales in their favour.
“Every winter thousands of New Zealand families are living in cold homes that are impossible to heat,” said Andrew Eagles, Green Building Council CEO. “Our hospitals are inundated with respiratory illness and our electricity grid struggles to keep up with the surging energy demand. Something has to change.”
The survey comes shortly after the launch of The Homes We Deserve, a vast alliance of business, health, sustainability, environmental, consumer, anti-poverty, building and housing organisations calling for all political parties to prioritise a “pollution busting home reno programme” for hundreds of thousands of homes if elected.
The alliance now has more than 150 member organisations, including the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, Consumer NZ, Bayleys, Bunnings, Greenpeace Aotearoa, Child Poverty Action Group, Lawyers for Climate Action, JLL, Pure Advantage, Vector, Sustainable Business Network, WSP, Green Building Council, and many more.
“We’re set for a tight election this year, and a third of Kiwis are saying their vote could be swayed for a party that promises to improve New Zealand’s infamously unhealthy homes,” Eagles said. “This hot-button issue could swing the election later this year.
“Coupled with the huge and growing alliance calling for political parties to make an election promise to fix hundreds of thousands of cold, damp homes, the pressure is surely growing on politicians to act. Doing so would slash carbon pollution and household bills – particularly important while the costs of living are rising. Plus, it would improve the health of thousands of Kiwis, and provide thousands of jobs for a slowing construction industry. And on top of all that, we now know it would also make sound political sense.”
According to the most recent census, more than 300,000 New Zealand homes were always or sometimes damp, more than 250,000 homes had visible mould larger than A4 size at least some of the time, and Maori and Pacific peoples were more likely to live in damp or mouldy homes than other ethnic groups, with around two in five Maori and Pacific peoples residing in damp housing.
Green Building Council cited recent research which found that ambitiously renovating New Zealand homes would make a fully renewable, fossil-fuel-free electricity system easier and cheaper to achieve by dramatically reducing electricity demand for heating, which at the same time alleviates the so-called “dry year problem.”
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