Kiwibuild reset: Greens want rent-to-own scheme: Co-leader Marama Davidson

Greens co-leader Marama Davidson has unveiled a push for a 'rent to buy' scheme to be part of the pending KiwiBuild reset. Photo / File

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson says the Government's approach to housing in New Zealand needs a "complete reset" and an intervention in the market is needed.

Speaking at the party's annual meeting in Dunedin this morning, Davidson said she would be pushing for the Government to include a rent-to-own policy as part of the Government's Kiwibuild reset.

A rent-to-own scheme is a long held Greens policy was in the party's supply and confidence agreement with Labour in 2017.

Davidson said the upcoming KiwiBuild reset was the perfect opportunity for the scheme to be developed and included in Government policy.

Housing Minister Megan Woods said the KiwiBuild reset would go before Cabinet at the end of this month.

Davidson said the scheme was vital for Kiwis and the Greens were ready to negotiate getting the scheme into the reset.

For too long, the housing market has been dominated by market forces that rewarded bad behavior, Davidson said in her speech.

The Government was moving in the right direction when it came to housing, she said, but the Greens wanted a "complete about turn".

That was where rent-to-own comes in, Davidson said.

"The KiwiBuild reset is an opportunity to make changes that tackle the causes of the housing crises, and not just manage the problems."

The plan, she said was for the Government, or a community housing provider, to build a home and a renter would move in knowing one day they would own it.

The tenant would pay rent but unlike a private rental or state house tenancy, part of their payment will go towards building equity in the home.

After a few years, combining this rental equity with their KiwiSaver, they will have built-up sufficient deposit to buy the home for themselves, and can continue paying off a mortgage rather than paying rent.

"Our rent-to-own policy will offer a pathway to people locked out of home ownership by student debt, high rents, low wages, high housing costs, and high costs of raising a family," Davidson said.

She also called on the Government to introduce a Warrant of Fitness scheme for all rental properties.

"We wouldn't allow people to lease a dodgy rental car, why do we allow dodgy rental homes? Poor quality, damp housing causes sickness. It needs to stop and a housing Warrant of Fitness will do just that."

A rent-to-own scheme was something recommended by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group and former Housing Minister Phil Twyford said he was interested in the concept.

"There's some really good thinking going on and we're looking at how government can be part of that and how we might be able to help people scale up some of these programmes," he told Interest.co.nz in May.