24 November 2022
Azaria Howell
[FYI request #21015 email]
Dear Ms Howell
Thank you for your request dated 3 November 2022 under the Official Information Act 1992
(the Act) for the following information:
1) How many homes run by Kāinga Ora currently meet the healthy homes
standards?
2) How many homes run by Kāinga Ora, in the Wellington region specifical y,
currently meet the healthy homes standards?
3) How many homes run by Kāinga Ora are being refurbished to ensure they meet
the healthy homes standards?
4) How many homes run by Kāinga Ora, in the Wellington region specifically, are
being refurbished to ensure they meet the healthy homes standards?
5) When wil all Kāinga Ora homes fully meet the healthy homes standards?
6) When wil all Kāinga Ora homes in the Wellington region fully meet the healthy
homes standards?
7) How many Kāinga Ora homes are there in total, and how many Kāinga Ora homes
are there in the Wellington region?
As at 31 October, of our 65,000 homes that are tenanted and covered by a residential
tenancy agreement, 84 percent either meet the Healthy Homes Standards or have work in
progress to meet them. Of this, 68 percent (43,775 homes) have been confirmed as
meeting the Healthy Homes Standards. A further 16 percent (10,600 homes) have Healthy
Homes maintenance in progress. Currently, we are upgrading more than 600 homes a week
to meet the Standards.
Attached is a table that outlines the breakdown by Territorial Local Authority (TLA) region of
those properties that comply with Healthy Homes Standards, have work in progress, and
those that are yet to be assessed and/or confirmed as meeting the standards. The
Wel ington Region incorporates the following TLAs: Kāpiti Coast District, Lower Hutt City,
Porirua City, Upper Hut City and Wellington City.
The Government has announced that it wil be giving both private landlords and Kāinga Ora
more time to comply with the Healthy Homes Standards. Under the announced new
timeframes, Kāinga Ora will have until 1 July 2024 to make our homes compliant with
Healthy Homes Standards. This is a year before the new deadline for private rentals, which
will now be required to be fully compliant by 1 July 2025. Importantly, the Government
expects Kāinga Ora to stil aim for 1 July 2023 for compliance on as many homes as
possible. As we are also committed to ensuring our customers are living well in homes that
are warm, dry, healthy and safe, we wil maintain our momentum on delivery of Healthy
Homes Standards improvements. The compliance extension is helpful, should we need it.
The Kāinga Ora Healthy Homes Programme is our largest planned maintenance programme
to date in terms of breadth, complexity and volume. It is a significant undertaking and we are
carrying out both assessment and upgrade work in stages. Spreading the demand for
building materials and trades across the time period also assists private landlords to
complete their obligations under the Healthy Homes Standards.
Kāinga Ora is not immune to the external challenges facing the construction sector, including
labour shortages, materials shortages, international supply chain disruptions, and the
interruptions and flow-on effects of COVID lockdowns and COVID-related limitations on
contractors entering homes. Despite these interruptions, we remain committed to completing
the work as quickly as possible, while ensuring robust health and safety measures are in
place to keep people safe.
Please note that some Kāinga Ora homes, where Kāinga Ora does not have a tenancy
agreement in place, are excluded from the requirement to meet the Healthy Homes
Standards compliance deadline. This includes a small number of homes that are untenanted
and unavailable to let pending redevelopment, housing stock transferred to another housing
provider, and homes leased to providers of transitional housing and community group
housing. Kāinga Ora wil carry out any work required to ensure these homes meet the
Healthy Homes Standards, but is not required to do so by the compliance deadline.
Please note that Kāinga Ora proactively releases its responses to official information
requests where possible, and out response to your request may be published at
https:/ kaingaora.govt.nz/publications/official-information-requests/ with your personal
information removed.
Yours sincerely
Nick Maling
General Manager National Services
