Housing Policy

Our Vision: We want to create a country where we are admired by the world not just because of our wonderful natural environment, but because of the way we live. A way of life that protects and enhances that environment.

The New Zealand Outdoors Party believes every citizen should have access to an affordable home and that our people will be healthier if they all have a warm dry home.  As it is not the job of government to push people into poverty, the Outdoors Party will look for ways to reduce the cost of housing for our people.

We believe it is a travesty that in a wealthy country such as New Zealand we have failed to keep up with the need for both private and social housing, and this needs to be resolved. We will get the Ministry of Housing to be hands-on to improve this situation.

Speed up the process

  • We will make land available for subdivisions and look for areas that could be converted into new urban developments.
  • RMA Act will be revised  to speed up the house building process.
  • To speed up the building process, we will sequence the development progression to
  1. find the potential land for development

2. Connecting services

3. Subdividing the sections

4. Contract construction companies to build housing

5. Use a mixture of public and private housing model.

Affordability

It’s not the government’s job to drive people into poverty, so first home buyers will be eligible for a low cost, fixed rate government loan.

We also recommend the Government retaining the ownership of some sections, with the owner purchasing the building at first and the land at a later date. The owner will pay a lease until the land is paid off. This reduces the starting cost to the owner and allows them to ‘get a foot in the door’.

We will change legislation to allow for more diversity in what types of accommodation people want, can afford and need such as, cluster buildings, co-housing and tiny homes, allowing for a green space and communal gardens.

Change legislation to allow for new townships based on innovative ideas such as www.7G.nz MarketTown concept. Walkable townships, with future proofing built in to their design and build.

Environmentally friendly homes and ‘eco houses’ will enjoy subsidized consents to encourage building houses that are ‘future proofed’ and have multiple benefits to people and environment.

Social Housing may be bought by a tenant at market value through a rent to buy scheme.

More Builders: We will help make it easier for builders to up skill to building with new materials and working on homes with environmental design specifications.

Green inside and out

  • All newly developments must have well designed community or individual green space for  gardens and orchards. We will subsidise any working model that helps people produce food for themselves and their community.
  • Investing in new technology such as solar panels for water heating and/or photovoltaic panels, or micro-hydro or micro-wind generation where suitable, to lessen electricity bills should be incorporated into all new builds.  All new builds must be designed with reducing energy consumption in mind. i.e. working with best models for sun and shade, warm in winter, cool in summer. All architects and draughtsman must be capable of designing such houses no matter their value.
  •  Maximise the efficiency of building new houses by investing in modularisation of building techniques.
  • All house designs would have to meet an R5 insulation code and be built to withstand large earthquakes such as we experienced in Christchurch.
  • Cheaper Regenerative Homes: support and promote innovative building materials such as hempcrete to reduce costs, waste and reduce the environmental impacts of house building. We will support industry to use clean, sustainable materials such as NZ wool, for insulation to reduce our pollution footprint in building. We will support industry using clever ways to use the materials we create in New Zealand, whilst reducing the use of materials known to cause harm. The Outdoors Party will reduce the consent costs for builders using a certain percentage of regenerative, recycled, or sustainable products in their construction.
  • Builders must recycle any building materials to reduce waste on building sites.
  • New builds must include rain water storage and grey water systems to reduce the pressure on sewerage systems, for future proofing and civil emergencies.
  • Hempcrete: The Outdoors Party will create a funding scheme for a competitive hempcrete building model. Hempcrete building requires fewer finite resources; and creates healthy homes.

Re-Build Rural

Housing is often cheaper in rural areas, with much of the infrastructure already in place. But due to neo-liberalistion in the 1980’s New Zealand lost its rural manufacturing and production which created urban drift. To create ‘rural drift’, the Outdoors Party will help people gain access to blocks of land around conservation blocks, on farms, in rural towns and areas needing man-power for pest and weed control, regenerative farming, forestry or other enterprise. We will decentralize government departments so there are jobs where people want to live.

We will create a straight forward pathway for ‘rural drift’ so people can go back to living in the country.

Optimal Urban

We recognise that towns have optimal sizes for best function, so to guard against excess growth we will encourage and support people, government departments and businesses to relocate to communities that already have ample housing.

To enhance this, we will create pathways for new immigrants who do not already have employment when they come to New Zealand, to live in rural towns for three years, with the advantage of cultural exchange and providing a beneficial work force

The Outdoors Party will fund ideas to optimise urban planning so that our urban spaces are better utilized and more inviting and create more social cohesion. In previously self-sustained townships that are now dormitory suburbs of cities, there is much that could be done to rejuvenate them to make them inviting and engaging, particularly for teens who need something exciting to keep them involved.

New Zealand Social Housing

It has been a long time since New Zealand lead the world with its Social Housing. It’s time to go back to treating our people with dignity and ensure everyone, including our vulnerable, has a safe warm place to live.

Caring for the homeless

The Outdoors Party will ensure that night shelters and other refuges, are fully funded for the important work they do, including two fresh, nourishing and nutrient rich meals a day, nutritional supplements for those who may be deficient due to addictions or other health challenges, counseling and medical support services.

Ultimately The Outdoors Party believes that no one lives on the streets because they really want to, so we will support and fund low cost living spaces for those who aren’t able to manage the challenge of funding and running a household.

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Alan Simmons

Alan Simmons

President & Co-Leader Alan has dedicated a lifetime of involvement in outdoors political issues. He’s sat on a number of national body executives, boards, NGO and management groups, including the NZ Professional Hunting Guides Association, Electricorp Environmental Management Board, NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers and the NZ Professional Fishing Guides Association. Many will know him through his website, the hugely popular New Zealand FishnHunt forum.

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