Leaky Homes

Again I recall how Helen Clark proclaimed that there was nothing of substance to the issue, and attacked the NZ Herald for “banging on” about it.

This non-issue is now estimated to cost $11 billion to fix.

The Government has proposed that efforts shift from the tribunal that assigns blame, to just fixing the problem:

Cabinet will consider in the New Year the previously announced proposal where homeowners who drop legal action would agree to shoulder about 64 per cent of the cost of repairs and councils 26 per cent.

The Government would chip in 10 per cent. It would also guarantee loans to ensure owners had access to funds with lower interest rates for those on small incomes and the option of paying off through their estate for older people.

At present the Government has no liability – it all rests with developers and local Councils, and as many developers have used shelf companies, the Councils are often the only ones left to pay up. So I would have thought 26% from Councils was better than 100%!

But Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast today said the Government was not shouldering enough of the burden.

“The Government of the time changed the legislation that allowed different practices… that allowed the use of untreated timber,” she said on Radio New Zealand.

“They argue they don’t have a legal liability, they certainly have a moral and ethical liability. We are talking about upwards of 90,000 New Zealanders living in homes that leak, we’re talking about not just the psychological problem with that, but of course significant respiratory problems.”

Ms Prendergast said councils would be willing to re-engage – she proposed councils and government contributed 25 per cent each.

I’m not wild about taxpayers having to fork out $1 billion, let alone $3 billion – especially when debt is massively increasing and defecits are likely for the next seven years.

Not that wild about paying through rates either, but as least local Councils are somewhat more solvent than the central Government.