Jacoby Poulain: WOF for rentals well overdue

We need one for our car and now we need one for our house - if it's rented out, that is. The government is developing a warrant of fitness scheme requiring rental housing to be warm, dry and safe. Such a scheme is not a moment too soon in my opinion.

Late last year, I started receiving a flurry of phone calls from the public regarding the relocation of a building into a nearby neighbourhood. I didn't need such phone calls in order to be informed, however, as I had already been made well aware.

The moment I had turned the corner, the monstrosity jutted out into the skyline. What appeared like two storeys initially, upon closer inspection seemed instead to be a high internal ceiling. It looked like an old shearing shed pulled from a paddock. The tin shack building was old, rusty, dilapidated and surely not fit for human habitation - or so I thought.

I phoned council to make inquiries. I found out that though the building was squeezed and crammed right up to another house on the property, apparently this was permitted by district plan rules and regulations.

This surprised me, but what surprised me further was the information that followed. It's one thing to have a house seemingly hard pressed against an earlier dwelling, thus compressing all activities on that single property, however quite another to then allow people to live in the structure that seemed little more than that - an old rundown empty shed of an unhealthy and unsafe structure. I inquired about the minimum internal building or health and safety standards that a dwelling must achieve.

It surprised me to learn that little more was required than a lavatory, a sink and some pipes.

If this is any example to go by, New Zealand's housing standards are woefully insufficient. Dr Andrew Hubbard, national research and policy adviser for Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), explains that about 70 per cent of children living in poverty live in rental houses, many of which aren't adequately heated and insulated. Every year, they see clients who are living in cold, damp or mouldy houses and whose health is suffering because of it. Unfortunately, when people go to the CAB to find out what they can do to address their rental house being in poor condition, there is little help available because New Zealand's housing standards are so poor.

The CAB, therefore, welcomes the introduction of a scheme that seeks to address health issues, as does Children's Commissioner Russell Wills. It was an expert group appointed by Dr Wills that recommended the scheme which will complement insulation subsidies the government has made available to insulate 215,000 homes since 2009 and, in my opinion, could create special synergies with the social housing reforms currently being worked through by the government so that more people are in warmer, drier and safer housing.

Rental housing is becoming a larger part of the market. The percentage of housing rented from private landlords has more than doubled in the last 20 years. It's important this area is addressed and standards brought in to ensure homes are safe, warm and dry. This is especially needed for babies, small children and elderly who are particularly vulnerable and susceptible to sickness when healthy housing is not present. Healthier and happier homes lead to healthier and happier people.

A scheme that seeks to foster this has my support.

Jacoby Poulain is a Hastings District Council Flaxmere Ward councillor.