New survey finds 42% of households worry about dampness at home; 16% go to bed early to stay warm; 12% (115,000 households) report damp so bad it's making their kids sick
Great Kaka this morning, Bernard. Sadly the mould problem in NZ is extensive. I've lived in a lot of houses in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and now Wellington and mould has been a problem in most. I now live with asthma after a year in a particularly mouldy student flat in Hamilton in the 90's. While it would be great to build a surplus of apartments and townhomes to a good standard to prevent this problem getting worse, we also have the mother of all refit jobs to tackle. Aside from the Healthy Homes Standard, which I understand is not even being actively monitored for compliance, there seems to be little Govt focus on this. I agree that healthy homes are a solution to climate change, poverty and housing affordability. I'd like to know more about policy solutions for retrofitting our existing housing if anyone has some?
Councils can provide loans and programmes by grant as can central Govt. They have for insulation and one heat pump or other heating source. They should for solar power and back up water tanks as well and should be standard. I don’t think they retrofit insulated walls or double glazing which is expensive to do for most people. I would hope they would replace windows in Kāinga Ora or state homes as well as the above. With increased values on the balance sheets there’s no excuse not too use some of that capital gain to upgrade for the poorest and most vulnerable and the property value itself.
Thanks Sonya. A lot of this has been done with many retrofits. But your basic point is right. A complete rebuild of much of the 1.6m housing stock is required.
Rottenomics (published 2019) by Peter Dyer is a fascinating read about the leaky buildings disaster.
When John Key's National government finally did something about the problem created by a previous National government he offered for the government to pay 25% of the cost to fix the leaky buildings. He then dumped another 25% onto councils and left the last 50% to be paid by the home owner.
So if you happened to own a leaky home and didn't have the money to pay your half share what did you do? A slap of paint, minor repairs or nothing.
Peter Dyer's estimate was that 50% of all leaky homes had no repairs done. Now how many of those leaky homes are rentals? And you can see where some of the mould problem comes from.
He also believed there was a problem with an ongoing building of substandard homes so don't assume that just because your home has been built since that it isn't a mouldy home.
If you surveyed student flats for substandard conditions that landlords charge outrageous rents for due to over demand the figure would be closer to 99%. And in Wellington those flats are a stones throw from parliament buildings (with all its trimmings and comforts) and MP's happy to fleece students for crippling fees.
If the next generations needs and well-being are not provided for we are in big trouble as a society. There is no room for immigration or or other nice to haves while this number 8 wire causing the needs of the most vulnerable, particularly in formative years, and treating Mothers and children as second class citizens in terms of their rights goes on. Let’s hope any retrofitting includes solar so smart houses aren’t to expensive to use in terms of power and include water tanks as well. This society is determined to ignore these obligations and duty of care. With a disability or for the aged staying warm and dry is critical. For most of us it’s just so basic it’s hard to comprehend corners have always been cut about these basic human needs particularly for woman and children and that their is little to no future proofing or planning even from Government who hold the power and resources to make the changes and provide the investment.
I agree with your position on women and children, Kath. Bringing up children on my own was a nightmare. I doubt we even made it to 2nd class. Even though my children grew fine, I was endlessly fearful of being unable to meet their needs.
Same and it’s done maliciously, illegally, with malice to deprive both us and our children. The invasion of privacy and targeting plus neglect of all our needs and legal and human rights is not only criminal it’s flat out illegal containing all forms of abuse to keep us all from fulfilling our potential. Diabolical and we are all far too nice about it.
I met John A Lee once when he was very old and I was not so old.He would be appalled to think that some of the same appalling conditions that got him writing and into politics are still with us.
Perhaps Labour's greatest crime against the poor over the past five years was to divert itself to pander to middleclass aspirations with its futile Kiwibuild. Add to that its forcing the state housing corporation Kainga Ora to self-fund by selling two of every three new houses it builds. New Zealand needs 100,000 new state houses built for secure, income-related, lifetime rent by all who want them. The state housing corporation should be the premier and paragon landlord that sets the standard for all others.
As for the existing rental stock: We need a law and mechanism for a mandatory warrant of fitness without which no dwelling may be tenanted. We need a mandatory fit-and-proper-person licence for every would-be property manager and landlord, without which they may not tenant any property they own or control. We need the Government to give itself the power and obligation to do any work required to bring a property up to tenantable standard, at the owner's expense, and to seize any property whose owners and managers persistently fail to meet the required standards.
Just under 2,000,000 houses in NZ and you think the state should create another 100,000? So including existing stock 1 in 10-20 houses should be owned by the state? Who is going to pay for this? Better question, why do we have so many families that need help? I’d rather educate people then make another beneficiary.
Apart from the 26,868 people on the state house waiting list, I'm guessing there are at least 100,000 homes in New Zealand, many tenanted by mum-and-dad landlords, unfit for habitation and ripe for compulsory demolition.
Buildings in poor repair are just a corner of the puzzle. You also have to take into account bad design and building practices of various kinds - too close to the ground, lacking effective ventilation etc. and there’s the conundrum of balancing ventilation and heating. An engineer pointed out to me that if you heat a house partially, the cold air will find the coldest wall and the coldest window and the coldest corner to condense on. It also condenses on the fibres of synthetic bedding, such as “mink” blankets, making them clammy and helping to keep bedroom air wet. New Zealand needs to work on low-emission, reasonably priced central heating systems. Forcing landlords to provide good heating is a sound start in principle, but only if tenants can afford to use it, and the house can be effectively ventilated without admitting great blasts of cold air and compounding the issue.
I think Janet's point is important. 55 years ago I was a student in a fairly sunless old house in Glenmore Street but we had little or no mould because we managed it - we opened windows when we didn't need heating, which was most of the time when we were out. Not possible with children in the house, nor with an open plan kitchen where water is boiled with no extractor fan. Bathrooms are still difficult to manage. Some education could be part of the Healthy Homes plan, which of course needs to start with the building basics.
Mmm the management is important. We spent two winters in Lawrence where to my horror the half of the windows iced up on the inside. That is where i learned to open windows early in the morning and close when the sun was on them. That way, the air that came in held less moisture. However if people are having to go spare holding down pieces of jobs to try to keep a family afloat, i don't see they can have enough room to think of when to open and shut windows as well.
Thanks Clive. You are right that some tenants haven't learned the ventilation tricks. But ultimately, proper insulation, passive ventilation and heating is required, which can't be taught.
These myHR turnover data are interesting, but only cover the period of Covid disruption, so we can't see a longer period for comparison. Could you ask MyHR for that Bernard? Just a line graph. The high level of turnover is weighted by the much higher numbers in hospitality - a simple average is under 50% and industry by industry is more informative. The weighted average 10% increase from last year is also strongly affected by hospitality/accommodation - and interestingly, in line with what we are hearing about the sector, healthcare. These turnover levels are very high in comparison with larger organisations - terribly hard to manage, and surely a service quality issue.
Glad you are on to this issue, Bernard. Thanks heaps for all your work. The importance of having a secure reliable home is fundamental to our lives - Maslow's hierarchy sticks in my mind - but for some reason/s NZ seems incapable of meeting this requirement. I wonder why and am wondering about your thought, Bernard, that we don't have an economy we have a housing market with bits tacked on. Housing seems to be looked at for resale value - eg add a fourth bedroom and the last thing that is considered is science. Janet Hughes mention of fabrics seems relevant.
I think the reason I can't get my head around us being so neglectful of people's housing needs, is that I look around the rest of the world and wonder what a heat pump has to do with it. Electricity costs are impossible. I've never slept in a heated bedroom and don't want to. I just feel we have somehow not got to grips with whatever the essentials for a safe home are here. Our housing stock is just thrown up following the latest in-thing. Is anyone doing fundamental research on "what is a home?"
Janet also mentions 'mink' blankets. I'm so old fashioned that I think wool and other natural fibres are relevant for warmth. Once again we have raced around buying the latest in-thing. I'm almost embarrassed to post this - tut tut stuck in the past - but I'd really like to see a slow down enough to pick up some overall sense. My mother grew up in some extremely elderly homes in Coventry, my father in the homes of early pioneer settlers in NZ. Winter in Motueka was cold, we heated only a couple of rooms max, we had to always have one window a little open at night, we didn't get sick. That is why I feel we are chasing our tales and somehow missing something totally fundamental.
"I don't want to get ahead of myself in this weird pandemic time but YES I AM GIVING THIS TALK IN PERSON. Cannot wait to be back in NZ. If people want to catch up, I am in:
"I propose an Auckland Twitter meet-up for next Wednesday evening, 6 July. Wellington tweeters, either Monday 11th or Tuesday 12th will work. Think I'm already in touch with Hamiltonians but hassle me if I missed you. Nelson is a fam visit, not sure who else I know down there?"
A shirtless Boris is even less appealing than bad suit Boris
I have a vague memory of the 'put your insulation on your rates bill' being on hold in Wellington, will check but this seems like a step backwards
Great Kaka this morning, Bernard. Sadly the mould problem in NZ is extensive. I've lived in a lot of houses in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and now Wellington and mould has been a problem in most. I now live with asthma after a year in a particularly mouldy student flat in Hamilton in the 90's. While it would be great to build a surplus of apartments and townhomes to a good standard to prevent this problem getting worse, we also have the mother of all refit jobs to tackle. Aside from the Healthy Homes Standard, which I understand is not even being actively monitored for compliance, there seems to be little Govt focus on this. I agree that healthy homes are a solution to climate change, poverty and housing affordability. I'd like to know more about policy solutions for retrofitting our existing housing if anyone has some?
Councils can provide loans and programmes by grant as can central Govt. They have for insulation and one heat pump or other heating source. They should for solar power and back up water tanks as well and should be standard. I don’t think they retrofit insulated walls or double glazing which is expensive to do for most people. I would hope they would replace windows in Kāinga Ora or state homes as well as the above. With increased values on the balance sheets there’s no excuse not too use some of that capital gain to upgrade for the poorest and most vulnerable and the property value itself.
Indeed. Thanks Kath.
Thanks Sonya. A lot of this has been done with many retrofits. But your basic point is right. A complete rebuild of much of the 1.6m housing stock is required.
Rottenomics (published 2019) by Peter Dyer is a fascinating read about the leaky buildings disaster.
When John Key's National government finally did something about the problem created by a previous National government he offered for the government to pay 25% of the cost to fix the leaky buildings. He then dumped another 25% onto councils and left the last 50% to be paid by the home owner.
So if you happened to own a leaky home and didn't have the money to pay your half share what did you do? A slap of paint, minor repairs or nothing.
Peter Dyer's estimate was that 50% of all leaky homes had no repairs done. Now how many of those leaky homes are rentals? And you can see where some of the mould problem comes from.
He also believed there was a problem with an ongoing building of substandard homes so don't assume that just because your home has been built since that it isn't a mouldy home.
Hadn't read that. I'll look out for it. Cheers.
This can't be right can it, because we have a Healthy Homes Guarantee.
But seriously, is there any similar data from before the HHG existed?
I'll dig around to see what I can find. Good question. thanks Julian.
If you surveyed student flats for substandard conditions that landlords charge outrageous rents for due to over demand the figure would be closer to 99%. And in Wellington those flats are a stones throw from parliament buildings (with all its trimmings and comforts) and MP's happy to fleece students for crippling fees.
If the next generations needs and well-being are not provided for we are in big trouble as a society. There is no room for immigration or or other nice to haves while this number 8 wire causing the needs of the most vulnerable, particularly in formative years, and treating Mothers and children as second class citizens in terms of their rights goes on. Let’s hope any retrofitting includes solar so smart houses aren’t to expensive to use in terms of power and include water tanks as well. This society is determined to ignore these obligations and duty of care. With a disability or for the aged staying warm and dry is critical. For most of us it’s just so basic it’s hard to comprehend corners have always been cut about these basic human needs particularly for woman and children and that their is little to no future proofing or planning even from Government who hold the power and resources to make the changes and provide the investment.
I agree with your position on women and children, Kath. Bringing up children on my own was a nightmare. I doubt we even made it to 2nd class. Even though my children grew fine, I was endlessly fearful of being unable to meet their needs.
Same and it’s done maliciously, illegally, with malice to deprive both us and our children. The invasion of privacy and targeting plus neglect of all our needs and legal and human rights is not only criminal it’s flat out illegal containing all forms of abuse to keep us all from fulfilling our potential. Diabolical and we are all far too nice about it.
I met John A Lee once when he was very old and I was not so old.He would be appalled to think that some of the same appalling conditions that got him writing and into politics are still with us.
Perhaps Labour's greatest crime against the poor over the past five years was to divert itself to pander to middleclass aspirations with its futile Kiwibuild. Add to that its forcing the state housing corporation Kainga Ora to self-fund by selling two of every three new houses it builds. New Zealand needs 100,000 new state houses built for secure, income-related, lifetime rent by all who want them. The state housing corporation should be the premier and paragon landlord that sets the standard for all others.
As for the existing rental stock: We need a law and mechanism for a mandatory warrant of fitness without which no dwelling may be tenanted. We need a mandatory fit-and-proper-person licence for every would-be property manager and landlord, without which they may not tenant any property they own or control. We need the Government to give itself the power and obligation to do any work required to bring a property up to tenantable standard, at the owner's expense, and to seize any property whose owners and managers persistently fail to meet the required standards.
John - a great comment!
Just under 2,000,000 houses in NZ and you think the state should create another 100,000? So including existing stock 1 in 10-20 houses should be owned by the state? Who is going to pay for this? Better question, why do we have so many families that need help? I’d rather educate people then make another beneficiary.
Apart from the 26,868 people on the state house waiting list, I'm guessing there are at least 100,000 homes in New Zealand, many tenanted by mum-and-dad landlords, unfit for habitation and ripe for compulsory demolition.
It is fair to ask why people can't afford better. The simple answer is wages are too low and supply of new and healthy homes is too low.
Thanks John. Property seizures would certainly get people's attention.
Buildings in poor repair are just a corner of the puzzle. You also have to take into account bad design and building practices of various kinds - too close to the ground, lacking effective ventilation etc. and there’s the conundrum of balancing ventilation and heating. An engineer pointed out to me that if you heat a house partially, the cold air will find the coldest wall and the coldest window and the coldest corner to condense on. It also condenses on the fibres of synthetic bedding, such as “mink” blankets, making them clammy and helping to keep bedroom air wet. New Zealand needs to work on low-emission, reasonably priced central heating systems. Forcing landlords to provide good heating is a sound start in principle, but only if tenants can afford to use it, and the house can be effectively ventilated without admitting great blasts of cold air and compounding the issue.
Those are great points Janet, especially the heating one. Lots of heat pumps installed, but not necessarily being turned on.
I think Janet's point is important. 55 years ago I was a student in a fairly sunless old house in Glenmore Street but we had little or no mould because we managed it - we opened windows when we didn't need heating, which was most of the time when we were out. Not possible with children in the house, nor with an open plan kitchen where water is boiled with no extractor fan. Bathrooms are still difficult to manage. Some education could be part of the Healthy Homes plan, which of course needs to start with the building basics.
Mmm the management is important. We spent two winters in Lawrence where to my horror the half of the windows iced up on the inside. That is where i learned to open windows early in the morning and close when the sun was on them. That way, the air that came in held less moisture. However if people are having to go spare holding down pieces of jobs to try to keep a family afloat, i don't see they can have enough room to think of when to open and shut windows as well.
Thanks Clive. You are right that some tenants haven't learned the ventilation tricks. But ultimately, proper insulation, passive ventilation and heating is required, which can't be taught.
These myHR turnover data are interesting, but only cover the period of Covid disruption, so we can't see a longer period for comparison. Could you ask MyHR for that Bernard? Just a line graph. The high level of turnover is weighted by the much higher numbers in hospitality - a simple average is under 50% and industry by industry is more informative. The weighted average 10% increase from last year is also strongly affected by hospitality/accommodation - and interestingly, in line with what we are hearing about the sector, healthcare. These turnover levels are very high in comparison with larger organisations - terribly hard to manage, and surely a service quality issue.
Thanks Clive. Page 9 has the detail. https://3837251.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/3837251/MYHR%20Remuneration%20Report_SME_2022_Final.pdf There has been an increase since Covid.
Glad you are on to this issue, Bernard. Thanks heaps for all your work. The importance of having a secure reliable home is fundamental to our lives - Maslow's hierarchy sticks in my mind - but for some reason/s NZ seems incapable of meeting this requirement. I wonder why and am wondering about your thought, Bernard, that we don't have an economy we have a housing market with bits tacked on. Housing seems to be looked at for resale value - eg add a fourth bedroom and the last thing that is considered is science. Janet Hughes mention of fabrics seems relevant.
I think the reason I can't get my head around us being so neglectful of people's housing needs, is that I look around the rest of the world and wonder what a heat pump has to do with it. Electricity costs are impossible. I've never slept in a heated bedroom and don't want to. I just feel we have somehow not got to grips with whatever the essentials for a safe home are here. Our housing stock is just thrown up following the latest in-thing. Is anyone doing fundamental research on "what is a home?"
Janet also mentions 'mink' blankets. I'm so old fashioned that I think wool and other natural fibres are relevant for warmth. Once again we have raced around buying the latest in-thing. I'm almost embarrassed to post this - tut tut stuck in the past - but I'd really like to see a slow down enough to pick up some overall sense. My mother grew up in some extremely elderly homes in Coventry, my father in the homes of early pioneer settlers in NZ. Winter in Motueka was cold, we heated only a couple of rooms max, we had to always have one window a little open at night, we didn't get sick. That is why I feel we are chasing our tales and somehow missing something totally fundamental.
https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/events/2022/07/new-zealand-s-shrinking-passenger-railway-network-slow-decline-or-hope-for-the-future/
Latest update
https://twitter.com/DrDreHistorian/status/1541629349048201216
"I don't want to get ahead of myself in this weird pandemic time but YES I AM GIVING THIS TALK IN PERSON. Cannot wait to be back in NZ. If people want to catch up, I am in:
Auckland: 6/7
Hamilton: 7/7–8/7
Auckland: 8/7 (briefly, early eve)
Nelson: 9/7–10/7
Wellington: 11/7–13/7"
https://twitter.com/DrDreHistorian/status/1541629351245910017
"I propose an Auckland Twitter meet-up for next Wednesday evening, 6 July. Wellington tweeters, either Monday 11th or Tuesday 12th will work. Think I'm already in touch with Hamiltonians but hassle me if I missed you. Nelson is a fam visit, not sure who else I know down there?"
Hi Bernard. Could you please dig into and discuss this recent US decision.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/300626761/us-supreme-court-limits-joe-bidens-power-to-cut-emissions