Podcasts about housing new zealand

There's hope there can be a turnaround in unruly Kāinga Ora tenants. A Government crackdown has resulted in 63 tenancy terminations in the past 10 months - up from 11 in the year before. Formal warnings have gone up 600%. Litigation Lawyer Adina Thorn told Mike Hosking the figures are encouraging. She says it looks like under this government, there's been a big step up and a moderate to good response to the behaviour that has been going on in some KO homes across New Zealand. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The untold story of New Zealand's mass timber revolution unfolds as architectural designer Bernie from RM Designs and structural engineer Julian from ENGCO share their remarkable 10-year journey pioneering sustainable construction methods. What began as a response to the challenges of post-earthquake Christchurch has evolved into over 50 successful projects that demonstrate how thoughtful collaboration can transform an industry.Their partnership reveals a refreshing counterpoint to the stereotypical architect-engineer rivalry. Instead, they've embraced a "no one of us is as smart as all of us" philosophy that brings contractors, manufacturers, and consultants to the table from day one. This early collaboration has been their secret weapon, allowing them to optimize designs for constructability while solving complex problems around acoustics, fire safety, and structural efficiency in mass timber buildings.The conversation takes us through their breakthrough project—the Bealey Backpackers—where they reduced foundation costs from 20% to just 7-8% of the budget by leveraging timber's lightweight properties. We hear how their work with Housing New Zealand became a watershed moment, as they meticulously documented mass timber's advantages against traditional construction across more than 20 performance indicators. From three-story walk-ups completed in just 8.5 months to innovative projects like the Pounamu Pathway with its distinctive "America's Cup sail" design, their work spans everyday residential buildings to iconic cultural landmarks.What makes this episode particularly valuable is their honest assessment of challenges facing mass timber adoption. Despite proven successes, every project still requires alternative solution documentation due to building code limitations. They've also evolved from timber purism to embrace hybrid approaches that pragmatically combine materials for optimal performance. Their parting wisdom? Understanding manufacturing capabilities from the outset is crucial—know what can be built before designing it.Whether you're an architect, engineer, builder, or simply passionate about sustainable construction, this conversation offers invaluable insights from pioneers who've learned through trial and error so you don't have to. Ready to rethink how we design and construct buildings? This episode is your masterclass.About RM Designs47 Springfield Rd(cnr Springfield & Clare Rd)ChristchurchNew ZealandPhonePh: (03) 354 6341E-mailinfo@rmdesigns.co.nzAbout ENGCOENGCO is a multi-disciplinary national consultancy with expertise delivering large scale projects, worth in excess of $100 million, and at the boutique end of the market, individual solutions for one-off domestic builds. The core of our business is in structural, civil and geotechnical engineering services, and we also have Green Star approved professional accreditation for our involvement with sustainable energy projects.Our key values: Passion, Principles and People.Websitehttps://www.engco.co.nz/Send us a textSupport the show

The last thing I did before the Waitangi day holiday was talk to Kieran McAnulty about the financial strife surrounding Kainga Ora, and it's bugged me ever since. The Labour Housing Spokesperson denied the agency was in financial difficulty. He told me that Housing New Zealand's asset base was so large there was no problem borrowing more money to keep its construction schedule on track. And that bugged a lot of you too. The typical response was typical socialist – just borrow more and more to fund your ideological programme. But it doesn't really have anything to do with your political bent, it's basic fiscal management. The world is full of people who have the assets to borrow whatever they like, but the devil in the detail is whether they have the capacity to pay it back. Increasingly we don't. Yes, our debt is internationally insignificant and still not at an extreme level. We're not the UK or the United States who have debt ratios over 100% of GDP, and we're certainly not like Japan who has a debt of over 250% of GDP – a country that's stuck with stagflation and has been since the 1990s. But we're still heavily indebted and our cashflow is poor. And what Kieran and the Labour Party don't realise is that is the principal reason they no longer control the Treasury benches. Yes, there were sideshows like the gender war, Māori relations, and benefit levels. But at the core of Labour's electoral collapse was the feeling that they were not fiscally prudent and that recklessness with debt was not the right direction for the country. It's a lesson for the current government, who, for all their posturing that they are the most prudent fiscal managers, are still running deficits, falling further into debt, and the timing of future surpluses is sliding ever further into the future. Deficits mean borrowing, and New Zealanders are not happy voting for anyone who commit us to that track. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the keystone policies of the last government was its Sustaining Tenancies Framework. It was the best and the worst in a way of Labour, because in theory and on paper it makes a certain kind of sense.   You give one of the most dispossessed and tragic of humans a home. They don't have one. They never had a show from the time they were born. If you look at some of the children taken in by Oranga Tamariki - 4-year-olds who are so emaciated they can't walk, who are so traumatised they can't speak. They grow into adults. They have very few prospects. They are homeless, you give them a home. Then, you do not give up on them, no matter how bad their behaviour might be. The theory goes that the person is cosseted and loved and supported and eventually they realise that although their childhood was absolutely dreadful, although they have been let down by every single person who was supposed to care for them throughout their lives, they will not be let down by the Labour government and Kainga Ora and lo! Magically and with tears all round, they become a good human who understands their contract with society.   Except, except, except, how do you measure it? Who has to pay the price while this process is going on? It's the other tenants who have to put up with this unruly, disruptive, damaged, anti-social tenant while this process of transmogrification takes place. They are the ones who are terrorised. The neighbours are the ones who have to get the kids back to sleep when the all-night parties wake them. They are the ones whose lives are threatened when they finally complain. And to make matters worse, you have 25,000 people waiting in motels watching as a small number of anti-social tenants trash their new Kainga Ora homes. And then they watch as they're evicted, but not out onto the streets.   The Sustaining Tenancies Framework saw the anti-social tenants evicted from one K.O. development and put straight into another in another community. It must have been galling for those desperate for a home to call their own. And it must have been galling, too, to be a grateful, happy tenant of Kainga Ora, looking after your home, grateful for the opportunity to have somewhere safe and reliable in which to live. So, you take the scones round to meet your new neighbour, only to find that they have been evicted for appalling behaviour at their last home and now they're living next door to you. Where is the sense in that? Even the kindest people in the world think that ending Sustaining Tenancies is a move in the right direction. Bernie Smith is the former CEO of the Monte Cecilia Trust: “It's certainly a move back to the real world. We've had softly, softly, which has created a lot of mayhem among many tenants and homeowners who have tried to live peacefully but found it impossible. You know, the previous government time and time again said that we are the good government, and that's why so many people were coming out of the woodwork identifying that they were homeless because the Labour Party loved the people. We know that the issue was generations and the making and what made it worse was that they decided to allow tenants to remain in their home and aided the illegal activity, no matter the issues that they were creating for their neighbours and it's unacceptable.”  It was unacceptable and everybody knew that - those who had to live next door, right next door in the same complex, those who lived in properties next door. And it's a tiny number, for the most part Kainga Ora tenants/Housing New Zealand tenants are deeply grateful for the opportunity to have somewhere to call their own. Somewhere they can get back on their feet, where they have a home address, where they have a neighbourhood where the children can go to school. It's a tiny number that causes the problems. But their impact is vast and huge.   Back in 2022 Kainga Ora moved 605 tenants because of antisocial activity. Now that's a lot. That's a lot of impact. Sixteen they moved twice. So you can see that according to Kainga Ora, for the most part being shifted from one environment to another assisted in modifying behaviour. But they didn't have any markers or none that they could explain to me. Whenever we did any interviews with the Minister or with Kainga Ora I said how do you measure that all of this love, and all of this care, and all of the Sustaining Tenancy is modifying behaviour, how do you know? Well, no. They didn't really have an answer for that. They just hoped that the social agencies engaged with them, that the worst of the behaviour would be minimised.   It's just not common sense, it really isn't. Unless you can show that it's working, end it, and that's what the coalition government has done with the support of social housing providers, who see it as a ridiculous policy. As I said to the Nick Maling from Kainga Ora, if you didn't have 25,000 people in a motel desperate for a home to call their own, fine, spend as much time as you like with them. Brass off the other tenants, they'll have somewhere else to go. But you've got 25,000 people waiting for a home of their own. Surely it should just be a simple swap. You cannot or will not live in a civilised society, you either don't have the skills you don't want to learn, the skills you are literally going to spit on the opportunity that's been offered to you, fine - back you go to room 203 at the Beres Court Motel and in comes the family in that motel unit, into to the beautiful townhouse or apartment that has been built by the taxpayer to give people a chance. And let the new family seize that chance and make the most of it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Christopher Luxon became leader of the National Party, he was touted by some as the new John Key. And, as we know, like Christopher Luxon - John Key grew up in Christchurch. Luxon was middle class. Key, though, was on the other side of the tracks. Growing up in a state house in Burnside. The place John Key grew up in was one of those classic state houses. “Good bones”. That's what people say all the time about those places, don't they? And, quite often, they'd be three or four bedrooms. But a lot of them were sold and, these days, there aren't that many state housing tenants who actually need a three or four bedroom place and so the old Housing New Zealand - which is known these days as Kāinga Ora - has been building more modern places. More modern and smaller than the old state houses. And, one of the areas they're building in Christchurch is in Halswell. Which has brassed-off some of the locals big-time because nothing was said to them about it until work was about to begin. The locals had assumed it was a private development and then found out what was actually happening when a leaflet from Kāinga Ora ended up in the letterboxes saying work was about to begin. And the people in Halswell are saying that Kāinga Ora is being sneaky because they think it doesn't want people kicking up a fuss before they get on with building these places. And under council planning rules, Kāinga Ora doesn't have to say a thing. No consultation required. Just to highlight how nutbar some of these rules are. There are people who've bought a place across the road from us and they've pulled it down to build a new home. They had to come to us with their plans and get us to sign some paperwork for the council because they needed approval from us. And why do you think that was? Because their design includes a veranda that goes right around the house and the roof is going to extend over the veranda which means it's bigger than it should be on the site and can only go ahead if the neighbours are happy with it. Just to be clear: as far as I can work out, this new house is going to have no impact on us at all from a design or construction viewpoint - but these people had to come to us, tell us about it and get our sign-off. But, at the same time, you've got Kāinga Ora allowed to build state housing developments when and where it wants without talking to the neighbours. If it was them wanting to build across the road - and not the people who have bought the land to build a house - we wouldn't have heard a thing about it. The explanation, of course, for this stark contrast in approaches between the people over the road from us needing our permission to build their veranda and Kāinga Ora being able to build where it wants without any consultation, is the fact that council planning rules are only focused on the structures on a property. And nothing to do with who might end up living there. Maybe the very nice people building across the road from us might turn out to be nightmare neighbours. Who knows. I'm willing to put money on them not. But when it comes to state houses we seem to think completely differently, don't we? We jump to conclusions that anyone living in a Kāinga Ora property is going to be bad news. And I say “we” because I reckon - if I'm completely honest here - I reckon I would be the same as the people in Halswell who are upset that they weren't told about Kāinga Ora building in their neck of the woods. And, of course, I'd be just as guilty as the next person of making grand assumptions about what it's like having state housing tenants in the area. Which I'd also be first to admit wasn't based on anything other than grand assumptions because I have never lived in a state house or near state housing. Which is why I got in touch this morning with a mate who does have Kāinga Ora tenants in his street. I texted him about it and here's what he said about his experience. “I'm enjoying the feeling that there are people across the road living lives that could have probably taken much worse turns but are now housed in comfort on a nice quiet street. “I also enjoy sending positivity their way through taking responsibility for my own prejudices towards the tenants. “So far we've only heard noise from one of the new tenants who had a spate of arguments from a rocky relationship with someone, but they never went too late and they seemed to have settled down for now. “There has been plenty of support from Kāinga Ora and police and, as I believe human nature prevents us from drawing strangers into the difficulties of our lives, it's a great lesson in not adding fuel to others' fires. “The way I see it, it's a necessary service that brings life to a dull middle class neighbourhood!”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kāinga Ora, formerly Housing New Zealand, says it has changed the way it assesses flood risks in the wake of a 2020 report which found more than 15 percent of its social housing , that's 10 thousand properties, are on flood prone land. The report, produced by NIWA, also revealed 16 percent of the agency's planned developments are set to be built in flood zones. Mark Fraser, Kāinga Ora's general manager, urban development and delivery spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

The Government landlord can't say how much it's had to pay out in compensation to neighbours terrorised by unruly tenants.  Kāinga Ora - formerly Housing New Zealand - came under scutiny last year when it was revealed it hadn't evicted any tenants in the last three years. This was despite neighbours coming forward with stories of abuse and threats - and Tenancy Tribunal decisions that detailed compensation payouts in the thousands.  RNZ wanted to know how much had been paid out in the last five years, so we filed an Official Information Act request.  Political reporter Anneke Smith has the details.   

The Government's books are supposedly in better shape than expected. The Finance Minister revealed a deficit, a business would call that a trading loss, of only $4.6 billion. Mmmm...we lost $4.6 billion. That said, the Budget picked a number more like $15 billion, so it could have been a lot worse. But one thing caught my ear in the announcement. Kainga Ora properties (what we used to call Housing New Zealand) are on the books as assets. But is it really truthful to call a property portfolio that LOSES money an asset? Minus $20-30m a year sounds more like a liability to me. And that's AFTER it sucked nearly a billion out of WINZ in rent subsidies. Of course, we need to have cheap housing, but doesn't expanding Kainga Ora's portfolio just feed an ever-growing liability for the taxpayer? And while I'm on this point, the Government says the value of all its property and equipment is up by $27 billion. That's land, buildings, state highways, electricity generation and railways. Land can be sold, so it's an asset, power stations make profits, so they're assets. But roads, hospitals, railways all cost more than they bring in, so aren't they liabilities too? Look, I know I'm being pedantic here. Anyway, things could be a lot worse. We could be Greece, or Italy, or another European debt basket case. Carry on borrowing at the rate we are though, and that won't take long. 

Russell Brown and Colin Hogg discuss Colin's book The High Road, an exploration of legal marijuana culture in America, and its implications for Aotearoa. Interested in how legalisation was playing out in the USA, Colin Hogg hit the road to see what moral decline had descended upon those parts of America where the drug is now legal. As high times hit America with laws shifting and attitudes changing, his 2017 book The High Road took readers on an adventure that's one part Hunter S. Thompson and one part Bill Bryson. Riding shotgun to discuss the book at Going West was journalist Russell Brown, who has written extensively about the issues surrounding cannabis law reform. The session includes a Q and A discussion on where legalisation might take New Zealand. Colin Hogg is one of New Zealand's best-known journalists. Hogg grew up in Dunedin and Invercargill where he joined the Southland Times as a cadet reporter. He has written columns about being a man for the New Zealand Woman's Weekly off and on for over 30 years and also worked in television as a writer, producer and occasional presenter and director. The High Road is his ninth book. Russell Brown is a broadcaster, journalist and web publisher. He was the host of Māori Television's Media Take, and before that TVNZ's Media7, and is the founder of the Public Address group blog. He writes regularly about drug policy issues for various publications and was central to breaking the story around predatory meth testing companies whose work resulted in the eviction of many Housing New Zealand tenants. He has been writing and publishing internet content for nearly 25 years.

  ANDREW BAYLY to the Minister of Finance: Is he confident the Government is getting good value for money out of all the taxpayer money that it is spending? ·  GLEN BENNETT to the Minister of Research, Science and Innovation: How is the Government continuing to support Just Transition in Taranaki and Southland through Budget 2021? ·  Hon JULIE ANNE GENTER to the Minister of Finance: Will an objective in future Budgets he delivers be making a just transition to a low-emissions economy, in order to ensure low-income households are not left behind in the Government's response to the Climate Commission's advice? ·  ANGELA ROBERTS to the Minister of Education: How does Budget 2021 advance the Government's reform of the Tomorrow's Schools system? ·  CHRIS BISHOP to the Minister for COVID-19 Response: What percentage of people in each of the Government's seven COVID-19 subgroups have not received at least one COVID-19 vaccination, and is he confident that the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out is on track to meet the Government target of every adult being offered a vaccine by the end of the year? ·  BROOKE VAN VELDEN to the Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing): Does she agree with the Minister of Housing's statement, “I think there are a number of really good landlords and I think we all meet them when we're out and about—but certainly, with some landlords as there is in any sector of society—yes, there is more need for compassion.”? ·  NAISI CHEN to the Minister for Trade and Export Growth: How has New Zealand contributed to APEC's commitment to speeding up the cross-border flow of vaccines and related goods to fight the COVID-19 pandemic? ·  NICOLA WILLIS to the Minister of Housing: Does she stand by her statement that the Government has “increased the public housing stock by 7,671 since we came into Government in 2017”; if so, why does the most recent Kāinga Ora managed stock quarterly report show that total managed stock is only 4,649 more than reported by Housing New Zealand in its September 2017 managed stock quarterly report? ·  TĀMATI COFFEY to the Minister for Small Business: What is the Government doing to support digital training and advice for small businesses? ·  CHRIS PENK to the Minister of Defence: What, if anything, is he doing to resolve waiting times of up to 140 working days veterans face in seeking medical records and medal entitlement information? ·  MARK CAMERON to the Minister for Rural Communities: What advice has he requested or received on the impact Significant Natural Areas will have on rural communities? ·  TANGI UTIKERE to the Minister of Immigration: What announcement has he made about work visas?

In this episode, we discuss what investors need to know about renting their properties to Housing New Zealand. There are both benefits and drawbacks to having Housing NZ as your tenant. Typically Housing NZ will look to rent properties that are brand new and high density in lower socio-economic areas. The benefit to the landlord is that the rent is guaranteed by the government agency for up to 10 years with opportunities for right of renewal. However, the rent reviews are poor, which means the rent you receive overtime will not increase at the same rate as the market. that means if your costs increase from interest rates, you don't have the ability to pass that cost on to your tenant. Finally, we discuss our upcoming Live Podcast Tour, which is happening mid-September in: Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Click on the links to register for your free ticket.

With a cannabis reform referendum planned for September 2020, this 2017 session where journalists Colin Hogg and Russell Brown discuss marijuana legalisation is more relevant than ever. Interested in how legalisation was playing out in the USA, Colin Hogg hit the road to see what moral decline had descended upon those parts of America where the drug is now legal.  As high times hit America with laws shifting and attitudes changing, his 2017 book The High Road took readers on an adventure that's one part Hunter S. Thompson and one part Bill Bryson. Riding shotgun to discuss the book at Going West was journalist Russell Brown, who has written extensively about the issues surrounding cannabis law reform. The session includes a Q and A discussion on where legalisation might take New Zealand. Colin Hogg is one of New Zealand's best-known journalists. Hogg grew up in Dunedin and Invercargill where he joined the Southland Times as a cadet reporter. He has written columns about being a man for the New Zealand Woman's Weekly off and on for over 30 years and also worked in television as a writer, producer and occasional presenter and director. The High Road is his ninth book. Russell Brown is a broadcaster, journalist and web publisher. He was the host of Māori Television's Media Take, and before that TVNZ's Media7, and is the founder of the Public Address group blog. He writes regularly about drug policy issues for various publications and was central to breaking the story around predatory meth testing companies whose work resulted in the eviction of many Housing New Zealand tenants. He has been writing and publishing internet content for nearly 25 years.

Auckland Council is in talks with the Government to house homeless and low-income workers in vacant housing.There are around 40 thousand vacant houses in the city alone, which is increasing year on year.The property owner would be asked if they wouldn’t mind their house being managed by Housing New Zealand, instead of it sitting dormant.CEO of Community Housing Aotearoa Scott Figenshow told Kate Hawkesby while there is need, it is important to ensure houses are fit for purpose.“Do they meet the new legislative standards around heat pumps and insulation? Many of them might be holiday homes so might not necessarily be the right fit.”Figenshow says recent developments, such as the rise of Airbnb, have seen houses come off the long-term rental market and be rented out at a nightly rate instead.“We all have responsibilities to provide solutions to the housing problem.”He told Kate Hawkesby we also need to be looking at why property owners might not want tenants.“Why has it become more economically viable for the person to leave the house empty than to have someone paying rent in the house? That’s what’s changed and that’s what we have to deal with.”

Halfway through her first term as Prime Minister, we ask Jacinda Ardern how she rates her government’s performance and whether she’ll ever utter the word Kiwibuild again.Visiting EU Commissioner for Security, Sir Julian King, warns New Zealand to get serious about cyber warfare.Mike Wesley-Smith asks why Housing New Zealand continues to call deaf clients who can’t use phones - then penalises them when they don’t answer.Judith Collins fires shots at new Housing Minister Megan Woods.And we are joined by our panel: Political Reporter for the New Zealand Herald Jason Walls, Partner at SenateSHJ, Marg Joiner and former Labour Party President, Mike Williams.

It gives me no pleasure at all to gloat over the government's apparent failure with Kiwibuild.There are some opponents of this coalition who almost seem gleeful when recounting the disappointments of one of the government's principal policy planks. There are no winners when a bad idea is ripped apart but no-one has an alternative option.The reason I'm not cheering in the street is that I was hoping that the state could have helped in what I've always considered is a generational disaster.There are just not enough houses, in the right places, at the right quality and with the right design in this country. It goes back to just after the second world war. From time to time we tried like the state house expansion, but again the sprawling suburbs, the acres of unused land, the absence of transport options only added to our problems.When this government said it would help with something called Kiwibuild, I wondered how it would work. I'm still wondering. It appears to be subsidising plans that were already happening. The worst part of their promise was not the ridiculously ambitious number but the adjective. They said 100,000 EXTRA houses in 10 years. Extra. I haven't seen extra houses. Actually, I've barely seen any houses at all.Attacking Kiwibuild is like shooting fish in a tank. What I'm wondering about is the new Housing and Urban Development Authority. What's happening there.Just to remind you, last November Phil Twyford announced the creation of the new Crown agency with "cut-through powers" to consolidate both Housing New Zealand and KiwiBuild in a bid to tackle housing shortages of all types.It will have broad powers, including being able to ignore existing council designations, amend or write its own by-laws and grant its own resource consent, and councils will have no veto power. "It's going to be a tooled-up agency that can cut through the red tape." It's main goal was to make brownfield and intensification projects possible which at the moment are being stymied by NIMBYs and Council bylaws.It's actually quite a good crisis measure. Phil Twyford promised legislation this year and the agency up and running by 2020. Haven't heard a peep yet.If this is a crisis, then get a move on. It opens up this government to more accusations of talking the talk and not walking the walk.Meanwhile, the fires keep burning. Yesterday, the Reserve Bank cut interest rates to a record low. They say the economy is looking tepid. Why? The global economy and all the talk coming out of the government.Bank deposit rates will drop and there's a generation of savers looking to make the most of their nest egg in an environment of cheap loan money, now that the threat of Capital Gains Tax has disappeared.I opened the lines yesterday and asked what are you going to do in this low interest rate environment? Virtually all said invest in property. It's always been a winner because there's never been enough.Some are already saying a new wave of property inflation is building up and it will take off next year. Welcome back to the so called crisis. And it is not beyond the pale to blame the current government for it.

Housing Minister Phil Twfyord is remaining coy on how Government changes to rental properties will affect rents.This morning,Twyford unveiled new requirements for landlords as part of the Government's new healthy homes standards, which will come into effect between 2021 and 2024.These include requiring all rental properties to have a heater in the main living room, as well as making sure kitchens and bathrooms have extraction fans.But the most expensive requirement for landlords, according to the New Zealand Property Investors' Federation (NZPI), would be the new requirements around insulation.The new rules will require the minimum level of ceiling and underfloor insulation to either meet the 2008 Building Code, or – for existing ceiling insulation – have a minimum thickness of 120mm.The National Party and a property lobby groups say the cost of the Government's new rental minimum standards will be borne by renters in the form of increased rents.Twyford told The Weekend Collective that these changes would cost approximately $7,000 for landlords to bring a three bedroom home to standard, but he believes only a small majority will be affected.“Half the rental properties out there have extractor fans. Two thirds have a fixed heating source. We’re really talking about bringing the bottom end of the market up to where everyone else is and setting a minimum standard.”He says that Housing New Zealand has 68,000 properties, and they will need to spend over $200 million, which will come off their balance books.“We’ve set three years from now, basically, they have to have all their houses being compliant.”NZPIR executive officer Andrew King said more than 90 per cent of the landlords represented by his group have already insulated their properties."A large proportion of those are going to now have to turn around and top it up to meet these new requirements."He said the cost of bringing the level of insulation up to the new required level would cost roughly $1500-$2000 per home.The insulation material itself does not cost a lot, he said, but the cost of the labour will be high."It costs just as much to top up insulation as it does to install it."He said this cost – and the cost of complying with the rest of the new standards – would be passed on to the tenants, in the form of higher rent.Meanwhile, he said just adding more insulation would not even have a major effect on keeping homes warm, if the home is already insulated.National's housing spokeswoman Judith Collins agreed.She said rents have increased in many parts of the country over the past year and the Government's new rules would see rents climb even further."There will be some landlords who are going to say 'it's just not worth it for me to retrofit this property'."Instead of renting the property, Collins said many would-be landlords would just sell it on the open market.Speaking at the unveiling of the new standards this morning, Lynley Thomas, a property owner and landlord, said although she would not increase her tenants' rents, there would likely be a flow-on effect whereby the costs could flow on to the tenant in the wider market."Indirectly, through a market rent raise which I think will inevitably happen, that's where the rent will go up."There were already concerns over rising rents after the prospect of a Capital Gains Tax was raised by the Tax Working Group.When that was put to him by the Weekend Collective, Twyford did confirm or deny that rents would rise.He says that we have to do a lot to get the housing market back on track and bring it into the 21st century.“We can’t wait around for the ideal moment of history to improve the quality of housing.” Twyford says that when it comes to Capital Gains Tax, there’s no evidence from overseas countries that a tax would force rents up.

In this final podcast for 2018 we take a look back at our favourite stories of the year which include the drama surrounding Jami-Lee Ross, the National Party Leadership and Housing New Zealand’s bogus meth testing.

Leonie Freeman from the OneRoof Radio show talks to The Weekend Collective. Are letting fees just a money making scheme? Should the taxpayer support Housing New Zealand with their meth policies?LISTEN AS LEONIE FREEMAN TALKS TO THE WEEKEND COLLECTIVE ABOVE.

The cabinet ouster of Meka Whaitiri dominates a week which also saw Housing New Zealand apologise for evicting tenants based on bogus meth investigations. We also discuss New Zealand’s commitment to raise refugee numbers but is it too little and too far off? Finally on the 125th anniversary of Women’s vote, we look at pay parity arguments from 1988, and we’ve got some of the more lively encounters in the House. Produced & Engineered by Adam Simpson Camera by Scarlett Wild Research by Rochelle Duncan A TVNZ Production

Chris Lynch and Newstalk ZB contributor Mike Yardley discuss the mess over meth and Housing New Zealand's compensation, the Prime Minister's removal of Meka Whaitiri from her Ministry and Citycare's appalling lack of accountability.

National's Housing spokesperson Judith Collins told Chris Lynch Phil Twyford is a "fool" for allowing Housing New Zealand to compensate former tenants. She says Housing New Zealand is "just pathetic" and says the previous Government holds no responsibility over the meth testing. 

Chris Lynch spoke to Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell for his reaction to the news Housing New Zealand is offering financial reimbursement after a report found its zero tolerance policy was wrong.He says he would like to see the Housing New Zealand board chairwoman either 'sacked' or resign. 

After months of being terrorised by burglaries, assaults and other anti social behaviour stemming from a Housing New Zealand complex in England St, Phillipstown, Neighbouring resident Andy Bean is relieved that the issue has apparently been sorted.Andy Bean spoke to Chris Lynch about the issues they were having to deal with and the steps that were taken to sort the situation out. However Any says he is not confident that this will be last of the issues with the new high density social housing.

In early February it was reported that neighbouring residents of a Housing New Zealand complex in Phillipstown were being terrorised by burglaries, assaults, public defecation and other anti-social behaviour stemming from the social housing block.An elderly resident who had lived in the neighbourhood for 38 years put her house on the market to get away from the situation.Chris Lynch was joined in studio by MP for Christchurch Central Duncan Webb and Housing New Zealand Christchurch area manager Fraser Benson for an update on how the situation was resolved.

We return to the issue of disputes with neighbours, this time what happens when things have escalated - even to the point where you're calling in the police and laying complaints. Housing New Zealand, the Arbitrators' and Mediators' Institute of New Zealand and the Disputes Tribunal all explain how they handle complaints that need some form of intervention.