The “older homes problem”

The “older homes” issue is both an environmental and a public health problem in New Zealand. Many dwellings are old and in poor condition, with households facing higher winter energy needs and negative health impacts. What’s more, lower-income households are more likely to suffer from such impacts.

We refer to the “older-homes problem” as the situation where households living in older but cheaper homes – whether rented or owned – end up facing higher energy costs and increased health risks as an unintended consequence.

According to the 2023 Census, New Zealand has over 1.8 million households, with just under half (about 800 thousand homes) built before the insulation standard was introduced in 1978. People living in these older homes are more likely to experience cold, damp, and inefficient living conditions, which not only drive up energy demand but also pose significant public health risks.

According to the Ministry for the Environment, around five percent of New Zealand’s total carbon emissions can be attributed to residential buildings. Poor-quality, unhealthy, existing homes are also a major cause of the high incidence of respiratory illness in New Zealand. 

Survey and housing-condition data show that exposure to cold, damp, and inefficient homes is not evenly shared across the population:

• Renters are more likely than owner-occupiers to live in homes that are cold, and this risk increases in crowded households

• Single-parent families face higher rates of cold housing compared with other family types

• Cold homes also disproportionately affect Pacific Peoples’ households, followed by Māori and Asian households

• Disabled people are similarly more likely to report that their homes are too cold. Nearly half of homes occupied by disabled people have inadequate roof insulation; about three-quarters are single-glazed; almost 73 percent have no ground moisture barrier; and rental homes are more likely to have little or no fixed heating.

Together, these conditions mean that lower-income households, renters, and specific ethnic and demographic groups face a greater burden from the older-homes problem. 

The New Zealand Green Building Council has provided several major recommendations to improve the situation, including:

• A government-led, fully funded programme to retrofit the coldest 200,000 homes

• Radically expanding the Warmer Kiwi Homes subsidies for a shallow retrofit programme

• Rolling out a national home improvement loan programme to provide the balance of funding

• Trialling an Energy Performance Certificate for New Zealand

• Bringing retrofit improvements up to code.

These recommendations set out a pathway to improve existing homes, starting with the coldest homes. The “older homes problem” highlights the importance of improving housing quality to address the negative impacts on people’s health and energy bills.