Unhealthy homes could swing election votes

A Consumerlink survey, carried out for the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC), asked New Zealanders whether a promise by political parties to significantly and urgently improve the state of homes would influence their vote.

Half of those surveyed said they were more likely or much more likely to vote for a party that did, while just one in 20 said they were less likely or much less likely.

Last year, the government introduced the healthy homes standards, which were intended to raise the poor quality of rental homes. At the time, the NZGBC said that these standards did not go far enough, and that hundreds of thousands of homes would remain cold and damp as they would never be reached by these schemes.

Andrew Eagles, head of the NZGBC, said this week that “while there’s sure to be a raft of issues that shape people’s votes, this survey shows that the state of our homes is set to be an important issue in September’s election.

“When the very places we live are making our kids sick, promises to make Aotearoa the world’s most liveable country sound as hollow as an uninsulated bedroom wall. The pace of change needed to fix this has so far been close to glacial.”

The survey was carried out from 29 January until 4 February 2020, and included 1000 New Zealanders. The general election date of 19 September was announced by the prime minister on 28 January, one day before the survey commenced.