Healthy homes standards worked, but many landlords are still refusing to complyThe Spinoff Daily, Thursday August 1
Ahiahi mārie, welcome to The Spinoff Daily. Today on The Spinoff: Can students still afford to live in Auckland’s city centre? Plus: why you should see We Were Dangerous, and what Harold the Life Education giraffe is teaching kids these days.
“Amid the generalised despair about the last government’s failure to deliver on certain key promises, it’s easy to forget it had some major wins. Take, for instance, the healthy homes standards, introduced in 2019 in an attempt to do something about the extravagantly bad quality of this country’s rental housing – something that consistently makes overseas observers shake their heads in bafflement. The standards are not especially demanding. They require only that a rental property has a fixed source of heating, is insulated where practicable, has extractor fans in both bathroom and kitchen, boasts functioning water pipes and gutters, and does not have massive holes in its walls. These are not, on any objective measure, unreasonable demands, even if some landlords treated the law change like they would a declaration of war. But have the standards made any difference? Although objective data is in short supply, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development does commission an annual survey of renters and landlords, the 2024 edition of which has been released to the Spinoff under the Official Information Act.”
A slippery slope towards the privatisation of our pools? Can students still afford to live in Auckland’s city centre? What’s Harold the Life Education giraffe teaching kids these days?
We Were Dangerous is a soaring celebration of misfits and girlhood Alex Casey reviews the debut feature from director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu, which has all the makings of a coming-of-age classic.
Help Me Hera: How do I tell people I don’t want to fly overseas without sounding judgy? The House Within: the new documentary about Dame Fiona Kidman, reviewed Art Work: Pip Adam on the greatest gift – knowing what to do
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Healthy homes standards worked, but many landlords are still refusing to comply
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