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Support for some form of minimum standards for rental housing has been common ground for party representatives in Dunedin general election forums.
Below are some views on other housing aspects aired by party representatives at the recent forum organised by Connect South, Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers, Public Health Association of New Zealand and the Child Poverty Action Group.
CLARE CURRAN (LABOUR)
Labour would work with the council in Dunedin to renew housing in South Dunedin. It would also look at a review of the social housing in places such as Dunedin to see what more could be done in partnership with central and local government and other organisations.
PAUL FOSTER-BELL (NATIONAL)
National had spent $354 million to create emergency transitional places, not homes for life, but places which would go a long way to address the immediate emergency need for people sleeping rough. While the Government had been criticised for buying motels, people in these units had access to ``wrap-around'' services to help them with "all sorts of challenges'' they faced.
METIRIA TUREI (GREEN)
Greens would offer a significant proportion of state houses built under Labour's KiwiBuild project to be owned by the lowest-income households. It would not require them to have a deposit or a mortgage, but a rent-to-buy agreement with the state to buy the house over time.
WARREN VOIGHT (NEW ZEALAND FIRST)
If New Zealand continued to have record numbers of immigrants without addressing the supply of houses, then rental and housing prices would continue to increase. New Zealand First would set up a housing commission to plan long term for supply and demand, focusing on local government and building the right type of housing needed. It would stop the sale of state houses.
LINDSAY SMITH (THE OPPORTUNITIES PARTY)
The housing crisis has nothing to do with the shortage of housing, but with the number sitting empty. The existing tax structure encourages people with means to buy houses, leave them empty and sell them for a profit rather than live in them or tenant them. TOP's taxation plan would make houses "things you live in, not things you put aside for your retirement''.
ELSPETH MCLEAN @thestar.co.nz