Features

Budget 2008: Housing

Living in decent, affordable housing is fundamental to the health and well‑being of families and communities. Budget 2008 provides funding for building new, affordable homes, funding for a new Shared Equity Scheme, and the insulation of all state owned houses to make them warmer, healthier and more energy efficient. There is also a huge $220 million investment to modernise Wellington City Council’s rental housing stock.

Since 1999 the Labour-led government has reintroduced Income Related Rents and boosted the state housing stock by a huge 7,500 houses, bringing the total number of properties to 68,600. Many of theses homes were built before 1978 when insulation became mandatory, so Housing New Zealand (HNZ) has already begun to ‘retrofit’ those homes to make them warmer, drier and cheaper to heat in the winter.

Budget 2008 provides funding to accelerate this retrofitting to all state owned houses still without insulation within the next 5 years.

Building on the existing Welcome Home Loan scheme and KiwiSaver’s $5000 first home grant, Budget 2008 introduces a new Shared Equity Scheme for first home buyers. The Shared Equity Scheme will mean the government will chip in and take an equity share in a first home, reducing the overall size of the mortgage.

The range of additional measures to improve the affordable housing supply includes funding towards a project that will include the building of up to 500 affordable homes and 500 state homes at the former Hobsonville airbase site in north-west Auckland. This 21st century urban development will provide for schools, employment, heritage areas and reserves.

For Wellingtonians, Budget 2008 invests a huge $220 million to modernise Wellington City Council’s rental housing.

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