By David Hargreaves and Alex Tarrant
While the Labour and NZ First Parties were signing and sealing the terms of the coalition Government, the Greens were also signing on the dotted line with their confidence and supply agreement.
It outlines 20 policy goals that the new Government will pursue across Green priority areas. The confidence and supply agreement document can be viewed here.
As previously outlined, the Greens will get three Ministers outside of Cabinet and one under secretary.
Green Party Members of Parliament will hold the following Ministerial positions: Climate Change, Associate Finance, Conservation, Women, Land Information New Zealand, Associate Environment, Statistics, Associate Transport, Associate Health and an Undersecretary to the Minister of Justice (Domestic and Sexual Violence). A Minister from the Green Party will be represented on the Cabinet Appointments and Honours Committee (APH) and the Cabinet Legislation Committee. Ministers from the Green Party will also be represented on other Cabinet Committees as agreed between the Party Leaders.
One interesting idea among the 20 goals outlined by the Greens is a Rent to Own scheme "or similar progressive ownership models" that will be developed as part of Labour’s Kiwibuild programme.
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern said the Green Party during negotiations indicated they had campaigned hard on alternative methods to help people into home ownership. “Rent-to-own was a strong policy platform for the Green Party, and we agreed it was something we should incorporate into KiwiBuild,” she said. As part of KiwiBuild, there will be a set allocation of rent-to-own or similar mechanisms.
Asked whether these would replace the current deposit subsidies, Ardern said Labour would look at in the context of KiwiBuild and include scopes of rent-to-own and shared equity schemes, among other options.
“For us it’s about using a range of mechanisms to make sure people get into home ownership. Some of the subsidy schemes the government have introduced don’t necessarily help home owners, because the proportion of a deposit they’re expected to accrue is still just too high.”
Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said the Greens didn’t have a specific model in mind, but he referenced different rent-to-own schemes that he came across when living in London. “You don’t necessarily want to settle on any one scheme.”
The Greens had deliberately set out their policy to work alongside KiwiBuild. “What we’ve said is, there is a commitment to a rent-to-own scheme of some description, and we’ll work through that with the Labour Party as the KiwiBuild programme unfolds,” he said.
This is the statement that Shaw put out:
The Green Party has today formally signed an agreement to support a Labour-led Government that will achieve environmental, economic, and social progress on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The agreement lays out the ministerial and undersecretary roles the Green Party will hold, and 20 policy goals that the new Government will pursue across our priority areas.
“The Green Party’s agreement with Labour is built on shared values and principles,” Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said.
“The agreement we signed today is a commitment to work together as a stable government in the best interests of New Zealanders, while leaving scope for Labour and the Greens to maintain our unique identities.
“The new Government signed two agreements today that set out an ambitious policy agenda for real positive progress, with lots of specific commitments from the Green Party’s manifesto.
“It’s clear to me that this will be a truly transformational Government for Aotearoa New Zealand.
“The way this Government chooses to measure success will define what its priorities are. By writing a commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals into our agreement with Labour, we’re committing to an ambitious approach to economic development, social wellbeing, and ecological sustainability.
“We aspire to an Aotearoa New Zealand where no child goes hungry, our birds and forests thrive, and the rest of the world looks to us as a leader in the fight against climate change.
“The Green Party shares many goals and values with Labour and NZ First. I look forward to working with Jacinda Ardern, Winston Peters, and their parties in a genuine MMP Government,” Mr Shaw said.
20 Comments
Re: Rent-to-own:
"When you are ready to sell your home, the process is not straightforward. First of all, the housing provider is likely to have the right to buy back the property before it is marketed to anyone else (this is called “right of first refusal”), even in some cases if you have purchased 100% of the property through staircasing. This is so your property can be put to other people on the waiting list who are unable to buy on the open market.
After a period of time, if your housing provider fails to find a buyer you are free to market your share of the property yourself or using an estate agent. But you will need to find a buyer who fulfils the housing providers eligibility criteria for shared ownership. As not all banks provide shared ownership friendly mortgages, your pool of potential buyers may be reduced."
On a hole labour, nz first and greens look to have some great ideas about nz and all its people. We cut it very close with national just about getting in and frankly the country would have been over as a country basically for nzers and been very hard to claw back from. Nzers we need to support this new government because nz is a special place and it needs running for all nzers
Rent - to -own ?
I wish them well , because someone is going to have to front up with the Capital to actually build these homes to rent - to - own.
The real problem is that Capital has to achieve a return at least equal to the costs of borrowing , plus a risk premium to cater for non-payers , people who lose their jobd or fall preganant
We simply dont have the money or the access to to Capital here to embark on a massive public works housing program
And if it ever sees the light of day we need 3 of these homes for our adult children , but I will not hold my breath
Could it not apply to existing state houses? Sure , they would have to be replaced, but I would imagine it is similar to Kiwibuild, the first "sales" income pays for the next lot to be built. Obviously , some bridging finance is necessary, but it has never been cheaper to do it than now . (low interest rates) .
What Winston was basically saying in the interview with Guyon Espiner was RBNZ/Treasury is going to front up with the money, basically "printing money". This is how NZ First was going to fund sub-2% 25 year mortgage for the poor as well as everything else. Non-payers will be taken care of by the tax payers.
"We simply don't have the money or the access to to Capital here to embark on a massive public works housing program"
And yet we spend billions of dollars Annually on Accommodation Supplements, and putting our homeless in motels. None of which address housing supply and home ownership issue.
The numbers.
12 million every 3 months on motels = 48 million per year
2.3 billion spent on accommodation supplement and income based rent subsidies.
That's 2,348,000,000 dollars spent annually, with no assets to show for it, and no longer term solution.
Would it not be better to spend a large portion of this money building homes?
1. It provides a permanent solution for many low income earners housing issues
2. It provides employment in a sector that is slowing
3. It can be cost neutral to the tax payer by selling of a percentage of homes, recouping costs through rent-to buy schemes.
4. It provides much needed first home buyer housing stock for today and in the future*.
*The pickle we've got ourselves in, is a lot of the first home buyer housing stock has been snapped up by investors over the past two decades, at a ratio of 10:1 vs first home buyers. Add to this, our new housing is typically focused on larger family homes. So we get reduced supply of old stock, and very little new supply. Having the government build homes for a market segment the private sector isn't catering for is good common sense.
This rent -to-buy scheme , while it may be premised on the best intentions , could cause a major headache for the economy .
Quite apart from the crowding -out effect of massive Government expenditure increases , you cannot simply print money without consequence , thats not how it works .
If we could all borrow or print limitless sums of money and spend up large it would be great , but in the long run it would bankrupt us .
And we have seen this all before with Robert Muldoon , but I guess those in their 20's and 30's would not have a clue who Rob Muldoon was if he jumped up out of his grave and bit one of them on the backside .
"you cannot simply print money without consequence, thats not how it works."
Are you being a naughty boy and criticising central banks one day for the failure of QE and it's inability to affect inflation/growth, and then the next day saying that there is in fact a consequence to printing money...
FYI.
Look at the inflation dynamic of the 1970, Boatman. It is very different to what it is now.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.