10. Question No. 10—Housing and Urban DevelopmentSIMON O'CONNOR (National—Tāmaki) to the Minister of Housing and Urban DevelopmentQuestion No. 10—Housing and Urban Development10. SIMON O'CONNOR (National—Tāmaki) to the Minister of Housing and Urban Development: Is he confident the formula provided in the regulation for the heating capacity of qualifying heaters in the main living room as published in the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019 is suitable for New Zealand landlords to understand?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Housing and Urban Development): The heating standard requires landlords to provide a fixed heating device capable of achieving a minimum temperature of at least 18 degrees Celsius. I am confident because these standards were widely consulted on with landlords and they were in fact the landlords' preferred option. Admittedly there are some people who do not want to fix the problem of cold damp homes causing the hospitalisation of children but we decided this could not continue. I'm also confident because the ministry received $15 million in Budget 2018 to help landlords comply and this will fund the development of an online tool where landlords can input the developments of their property and print out the details of the type of heat pump or heater required. It will also cover the support for landlords through advice and the development of guidance material. Landlords also have two years to 1 July 2021 to consider this material to ask questions and to ensure that their properties comply within 90 days of any new tenancy.Simon O'Connor: How many variables will landlords need to know or measure to make this calculation using the calculator he refers to?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well the online tool will require landlords to put in the full dimensions of the main living area the number of doors the number of windows the level of insulation whether or not the windows are double glazed or not. All of those are the variables that will go into the online tool that will tell them the power of the heater or heat pump that's needed to heat that space.Simon O'Connor: A visual aid if I could Mr Speaker. [Produces chart depicting algebraic formula] If the Minister does not know that a minimum of 37 different variables are required to perform the calculation how will the average landlord or tenant know what heater the law requires them to buy when they go to Bunnings next month?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I'm sure the member understands that landlords don't have to be an expert in algebra—Hon Members: They do.Hon PHIL TWYFORD: No they don't—no they clearly don't. They don't need to know algebra any more than they need to know the coding on the website that will tell them the level of the heat pump or electric heater that's needed to heat their room. Our Government is committed to the idea that warm dry homes are a necessary reform to stop kids being sent off to hospital and unlike Ms Collins we don't believe that that is necessarily an attack on landlords.Paul Eagle: Why is the Government implementing the Healthy Homes Standards?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Otago University recently found out that homes that are damp or mouldy caused more than 35000 nights in hospital and at least 6000 children are admitted each year for what they describe as housing sensitive hospitalisations." We cannot continue to tolerate this. The World Health Organization recommends a minimum indoor temperature of 18 degrees.Paul Eagle: Will the Healthy Homes Standards reduce the health costs of tenants?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The heating standard alone is predicted to reduce the costs incurred by New Zealand tenants because of ill health by $129 million a year. That excludes the non-quantifiable benefits such as increased school attendance and greater educational attainment mental wellbeing and comfort. This is additional to the predicted $476 million in energy savings.Paul Eagle: Does he agree with the criticism that this is an attack on landlords?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: No I do not agree with that criticism. We are lifting standards so that the bottom end of the market "slum landlords" will not continue to undercut decent landlords. Most good landlords have already insulated their homes some time ago and we are lifting the standards because a report from Otago University highlighted that 15 percent of owner-occupier homes were reported to be cold compared to 35 percent of rental homes. Only 3 percent of owner-occupied homes were damp or mouldy compared to 12 percent of rentals.Simon O'Connor: Is it reasonable to expect landlords to be able to calculate from his regulations "the transmission heat loss in respect of the living room's building elements that are part of the … building's thermal envelope"?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Not using algebra but that's why we are providing an online tool to provide an easy and convenient tool for all landlords.Simon O'Connor: Could the Minister explain the difference between a "living room's building elements that are part of the … building's thermal envelope" and a living room's elements that are not part of the building's thermal envelope as outlined in the regulations?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I'm very happy to organise a detailed briefing by officials for the member if he really wants a detailed explanation of what will effectively be the back end of the website."