Tenants and owners may hope that some pressure may have gone now that Phil Twyford is no longer Housing Minister, paying the price for the political embarrassment that KiwiBuild became, Tenancies War spokesman Mike Butler said today.

His tinkering with rental property standards and tenancy law helped hike rents and drove a number to sell, creating a new housing crisis, Mr Butler said.

Insulation standards based on optimum costs and benefits had already been set by the previous government and Mr Twyford’s requirement for additional insulation would incur extra costs for little extra benefit, he said.

Requiring a fixed heater makes little sense when there is a wide range of affordable heaters that tenants already use to suit their needs, he said.

Installing extractor fans, which are costly, difficult to install, or have an opening window in the way, is in many cases a waste of money. Properties may be ventilated by opening windows.

The $200 million Mr Twyford allocated to the charity Housing First to house 1000 people over four years at a cost of $961 per person per week, relies on leasing properties from the private sector that have been difficult to find, Mr Butler said.

Mr Twyford’s somewhat desperate “build-to-rent” proposal would require substantial Government financial support and guarantees to get off the ground, just like the failed KiwiBuild programme, and would mean high-density, large apartment blocks that most likely would end up as ghettos, he said.

Whether the new Housing Minister, Megan Woods, is pragmatic or agenda-based remains to be seen, Mr Butler said.

The decider will be whether she proceeds with tinkering with the Residential Tenancies Act that would end the contractual rights of owners to end tenancies, and remove the ability to sell with vacant possession, as Housing New Zealand requires when buying properties from private owners, he said.

Stop the War on Tenancies is a group that since last October has been highlighting the errors made by successive governments while creating rental property policy.

See CHB 86-year-old moves out https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12238724

See Housing shortage first hurdle, https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/property/105735200/housing-shortage-first-hurdle-as-housing-first-moves-to-marlborough

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