3 October 2013

Plenty more to do on home insulation

The Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart scheme that grew out of Green Party negotiations with successive Labour and National governments was a huge success but there’s plenty more to do to adequately insulate Kiwi homes and the current Government needs to commit more funding, Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said today.

The $347 million Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart scheme ended today, having insulated 235,000 houses, 46,500 more than expected, and employed thousands of workers. Approximately half a million Kiwi homes remain under-insulated with private low-income rentals being a particular problem. MBIE estimates that the programme results in $5 of benefits for every dollar spent, primarily in improved health.

Heart Smart resulted from the Memorandum of Understanding between the Green and National Parties and followed on from an agreement between the Greens and the former Labour government. The new programme, Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes, follows strong lobbying of the Government by the Greens to continue funding home insulation. However, the new programme is too small and too narrowly targeted.

“Heat Smart is a Green success story. By investing $347 million, we have insulated nearly a quarter of a million Kiwi homes, created thousands of jobs, and saved over a billion dollars in health costs alone,” said Mrs Turei.

“That good work needs to continue. We still have half a million Kiwi families living in under-insulated homes.

“We are pleased that our pressure resulted in the Government committing new funding to home insulation after the end of Heat Smart. However, Healthy Homes doesn’t have enough money to do the job and the targeting will mean that many families, particularly those in low-income rentals, continue to miss out.

“Given the resounding success of Heat Smart, it’s hard to understand National’s logic in slashing funding and slowing the rate of home insulations. National’s scaled-back funding will mean more Kiwis living in unhealthy homes for longer and result in job losses in the home insulation sector.

“The Greens want to see more money put into home insulation. With a pay-off of $5 for every dollar invested, mostly in improved health outcomes for kids, it just makes sense.

“The Greens will work with landlords to help ensure that rentals get insulated. Our Warrant of Fitness for rentals plan will require rentals to meet insulation and other liveability standards. As a part of that, we recognise the need for the government to provide landlords with some financial support for insulation,” said Mrs Turei.

ENDS

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