1. Question No. 1—HousingBROOKE VAN VELDEN (Deputy Leader—ACT) to the Minister of HousingORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Housing1. BROOKE VAN VELDEN (Deputy Leader—ACT) to the Minister of Housing: How many Kāinga Ora homes in new developments would not meet the requirements of the Healthy Homes Standards heating formula as mentioned in a Cabinet paper released on 3 December 2021 and how much extra funding if any would it cost to bring these developments up to the standards required by the heating formula?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): All Kāinga Ora new builds will meet the healthy homes standards (HHS). Following the healthy homes standards regulations coming into force on 1 July 2019 issues with the sizing of heaters in apartment-style buildings in builds since 2008 were raised. Kāinga Ora developers and property investors raised the issue with officials—in particular with how it affected new-build apartments. As a consequence of this we have updated the regulations to make changes to the heating requirements to reflect the higher thermal performance of new homes built to the 2008 building code requirements for insulation and glazing and certain apartments. We consulted with a range of heating and ventilation industry experts property owners community housing providers developers tenancy advocates and Kāinga Ora to test the proposed changes. Officials began working on these changes from March 2021. Policy decisions were made on 15 November 2021 and that is the Cabinet paper the member is referring to. The regulations were approved by Cabinet on 7 April of this year. The changes were made public on 14 April of this year and the law comes into force on 12 May 2022. To assist landlords affected by the recent amendments to the HHS in respect to the heating requirement—i.e. those landlords with new homes built to the 2008 building code requirements for insulation and glazing and those who own certain apartments—they will have until 12 February 2023 to comply with the updated heating standard. In answer to the second part of the question: therefore no additional funding was required.Brooke van Velden: Can the Minister guarantee that the Government did not change the healthy homes standards heating formula because it was found that Kāinga Ora's new developments would not meet the standard and that The developments would have to be completely redesigned to allow for extra pipework to accommodate a heat pump rather than the wall-panel heaters the engineer recommended."?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: What I can confirm to the member is that we heard these concerns from a range of developers a range of builders a range of landlords including Kāinga Ora but also community housing providers. I know as a local constituent MP I heard it from businesses within my electorate some of whom are electrical engineers and were involved in the calculations around the capacity needed. So we heard those concerns from a range of areas. We asked Kāinga Ora as our Government development agency to give us some case studies for us to work into our policy making but this is an example of the Government listening to concerns raised with it and making changes accordingly.Brooke van Velden: How is it fair or acceptable that the private sector was forced to comply with poorly developed heating standards at great cost when the Government can simply move the goalposts for Kāinga Ora's own developments?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I simply don't accept the argument the member is making there. We made these changes in response to concerns that we heard from private developers; we made these changes in response to concerns that we heard from landlords. This is an example of our Government listening. Yes it does include Kāinga Ora but this is about helping all landlords and developers not just ourselves.Brooke van Velden: Does the Minister accept that the unnecessary cost that the incorrect heating formula imposed upon landlords will be passed on to tenants who are already struggling to make ends meet in this cost of living crisis?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: In terms of the number of landlords that this would affect it's likely to be a very small number. It is homes that were built since 2008 and a subset of apartments; it's not all buildings. Not all of those rentals would have complied with the standards because it was not at the threshold of having to. We recognise that now there are new standards additional time has been given and it's why in my primary answer I talked about the time line now stretching out to 2023.Brooke van Velden: What does she say to landlords who put in place huge heat pumps at large cost to themselves and their tenants who will feel as though the Government has shifted the goalposts for their own developments and not for landlords who are trying to make a home affordable for New Zealanders?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I'm not sure if the member realises that these changes also apply to private landlords; these changes are not just changes for Kāinga Ora. These are changes to the healthy homes standards that apply across the board."