Wellington City Council election guide — 2019

Conor Hill

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Supports council funded tenant advocacy services and lobbying central government for anonymizing tenancy tribunal proceedings.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Supports the council enforcing a rental WOF to the Healthy Homes Standards.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports council building 750 houses and 200 new homes every year, rent controls on existing rental homes, more homes in suburban communities and developing homes on the Berhampore golf club.

• Read Conor's responses in full
• Conor Hill's official website.
• Conor is not a renter or a landlord.

Justin Lester

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Supports council funded tenants advocates services providing it meets funding criteria.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Will ensure all council homes meet Healthy Homes Standards. Will ensure Healthy Homes Standards are being enforced in rental homes through council assessment.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports continuation of apartment conversion scheme. Continue building 750 social housing units and 300 units at Arlington. Aims for council to contribute a minimum of 10% of new homes built, commits to improving building consenting processes.

• Read Justin's responses in full
• Justin Lester's official website.
• Justin is not a renter or a landlord.

Norbert Hausberg

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Committed to funding a dedicated tenants advocacy service.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Sees enforcing laws on quality of rental homes as central government issues.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports the building of more council housing and rent freezes but no specific policies

• Read Norbert's responses in full
• Norbert is not a renter or a landlord.

Jenny Condie

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Would lobby central government for council funding so council could play a bigger role in enforcement, supports a people's budget where residents could vote for funding to go toward council inspection of rentals and/ or funding for tenancy services. Would advocate to central government supporting of renters rights reform.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Believes increasing housing supply is the best way to ensure quality. Supports a people's budget in which residents vote for projects they would like to see funded- inspection of the quality of rental homes could be proposed and voted in by the people. No specific policy or commitment to ensure warm, safe and dry rentals in Wellington.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Establish ‘Urban development agency’ to allow council to get involved in residential building projects and introduce new funding model to allow council to build more houses. No commitment to a number of council housing that should be built. Advocate central govt to restore rent subsidies for council housing renters.

• Read Jenny's responses in full
• Jenny Condie's official website.
• Jenny is not a renter or a landlord.

Other
candidates

The following candidates have not responded. We will post their responses when we receive them.

• Diane Calvert
• Andrew Grantham Cox
• Andy Foster
• Don Newt McDonald
• Ajay Rathod

Jenny Condie

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Would lobby central government for council funding so council could play a bigger role in enforcement, supports a people's budget where residents could vote for funding to go toward council inspection of rentals and/ or funding for tenancy services. Would advocate to central government supporting of renters rights reform.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Believes increasing housing supply is the best way to ensure quality. Supports a people's budget in which residents vote for projects they would like to see funded- inspection of the quality of rental homes could be proposed and voted in by the people. No specific policy or commitment to ensure warm, safe and dry rentals in Wellington.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Establish ‘Urban development agency’ to allow council to get involved in residential building projects and introduce new funding model to allow council to build more houses. No commitment to a number of council housing that should be built. Advocate central govt to restore rent subsidies for council housing renters.

• Read Jenny's responses in full
• Jenny Condie's official website.
• Jenny is not a renter or a landlord.

Tracy Hurst-Porter

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Does not support WCC funding advocacy services for renters.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Does not support WCC ensuring Wellington rental properties meet minimum housing standards. Believes WCC only has a responsibility to ensure council housing meets standards.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Does not support WCC doubling housing portfolio, advised additional housing not the core business of WCC.

• Read Tracy's responses in full
• Tracy is not a renter or a landlord.

Other
candidates

The following candidates have not responded. We will post their responses when we receive them.

• John Apanowicz
• Jill Day
• Peter Gilberd
• John Peters
• Graeme Sawyer
• Malcolm Sparrow

Conor Hill

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Supports council funded tenant advocacy services and lobbying central government for anonymizing tenancy tribunal proceedings.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Supports the council enforcing a rental WOF to the Healthy Homes Standards.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports council building 750 houses and 200 new homes every year, rent controls on existing rental homes, more homes in suburban communities and developing homes on the Berhampore golf club.

• Read Conor's responses in full
• Conor Hill's official website.
• Conor is not a renter or a landlord.

Rebecca Matthews

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Supports the introduction of a council funded tenant support service.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Supports council proactively inspecting rental homes.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports apartment conversions to rental homes, improving building consent processes. Supports building more council homes but no specific goal.

• Read Rebecca's responses in full
• Rebecca Matthews' official website.
• Rebecca is a renter and is not a landlord.

Richard McIntosh

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Supports council funded tenant advocacy services through a third party such as Community Law.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Sees enforcement of quality standards as a Central Government issue. Supports use of solar power in council housing.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports building more council housing but no specific goal.

• Read Richard's responses in full
• Richard McIntosh's official website.
• Richard is a renter and is not a landlord.

Other
candidates

The following candidates have not responded. We will post their responses when we receive them.

• Rohan Biggs
• Diane Calvert
• Ray Chung
• Michelle Rush
• Simon Woolf

Tamatha Paul

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Supports lobbying central govt for anonymizing proceedings at the tenancy tribunal and improving security of tenure. Supports council provided tenant advocates in principal but no specific policy.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Supports the council funding proactive inspections of rental homes to Healthy Homes Standards.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports the building of more quality council homes but no specific target, supports teaming with universities to increase housing supply.

• Read Tamatha's responses in full
• Tamatha Paul's official website.
• Tamatha is a renter and is not a landlord.

Brian Dawson

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Supports a council funded tenants support service.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Ensuring all council homes meet Healthy Homes Standards by 2022. Supports council proactively inspecting rental homes.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports gradual increase in council housing stock, at least 150 housing units per year. Supports conversions of commercial buildings to rental homes, improving building consent processes.

• Read Brian's responses in full
• Brian Dawson's official website.
• Brian is a renter and a landlord.

Iona Pannett

• Improving renter’s rights
  • May support the introduction of a council funded tenant support service, working with CAB, Community Law to achieve this.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Supports council partnering with central government for property inspection.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports increasing council borrowing to build more housing, at least 500 houses built by the council per year, improve building consent processes.

• Read Iona's responses in full
• Iona Pannett's official Facebook page.
• Iona is not a renter or a landlord.

Lee Orchard

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Would explore options for funding tenants advocacy service.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Supports council inspecting rental homes but believes would be more effective by partnering with other government agencies. Believes council should use its authority to put pressure on property owners to meet rules and legislation to improve quality.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports more council housing but no specific commitment. Council urgently needs to partner with property and land owners to find a way to build high density housing.

• Read Lee's responses in full
• Lee Orchard's official facebook page.
• Lee is a renter and is not a landlord.

Nicola Young

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Believes funding advocacy services is the role of central government. Does not support council inspection of rental properties to ensure they meet housing quality regulations.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Supports the voluntary WOF in place. Making more new and affordable housing stock available to lift the city’s rental stock. No specific promises or policies put forward.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports the development of more council housing. Supports current work being done by the council to address supply issues. Believes income related rents could be extended to local body housing providers to reduce financial pressure. No specific policy to increase supply.

• Read Nicola's responses in full
• Nicola Young's official Facebook page.
• Nicola is not a renter or a landlord.

Other
candidates

The following candidates have not responded. We will post their responses when we receive them.

• Shan Ng
• Harry Smith

Bernard O’Shaugh­nessy

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Would support and advocate for funding of a tenants advocacy service.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Believes council should be actively inspecting all homes for quality. Supports WOF for all homes (did not specify mandatory or voluntary). Would lobby both council and central government to improve the quality of rental housing.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports council doubling social housing stock. Believes council should be building 500 social housing units each year for the next ten years. Supports increasing rent subsidies.

• Read Bernard's responses in full
• Bernard is a renter and is not a landlord.

Teri O'Neill

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Committed to funding both ‘on the street’ roaming tenant advocacy and 1-on-1 advocacy services as well as expanding CAB and community law services.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Supports council proactively inspecting rental homes. Incentivising landlords who achieve the healthy homes standards.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Working alongside central government to increase housing supply aiming to double supply, focussing on quality, environmentally friendly, accessible housing. Expanding the apartment conversion scheme and improving building consent.

• Read Teri's responses in full
• Teri O'Neill's official website.
• Teri is a renter and is not a landlord.

Sarah Free

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Continue working with Citizens Advice Bureau and sustainability trust to support tenants.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • All council housing to meet Healthy Homes Standards by 2022, supports council actively inspecting all homes for quality.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports increasing council housing stock but no specific goals, supports extending conversions of commercial buildings to rental homes, improving building consent processes, supports council run ‘rent-to-own’ scheme.

• Read Sarah's responses in full
• Sarah Free's official website.
• Sarah is not a renter or a landlord.

Other
candidates

The following candidates have not responded. We will post their responses when we receive them.

• Sean Rush
• Steph Eldin
• Chris Calvi-Freeman
• Ajay Rathod

Fleur Fitzsimons

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Supports for council funding of a tenant’s advocacy service.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Ensure all council houses meet HHG standards by 2022, Supports council proactively inspecting rental homes, incentivising landlords who achieve the HHG standards
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Aims to double council housing portfolio and build at least 150 housing units per year, continuing apartment conversion scheme, improving building consent processes.

• Read Fleur's responses in full
• Fleur Fitzsimons' official website.
• Fleur is not a renter or a landlord.

Humphrey Hanley

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Supports for council funding of a tenant’s advocacy service.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Supports council quality assessment of council houses and rental homes. Supports accommodating people with disabilities in housing consent processes.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Supports doubling the council housing portfolio by 2024, including accessible homes.

• Read Humphrey's responses in full
• Humphrey Hanley's official Facebook page.
• Humphrey is not a renter or a landlord.

Laurie Foon

• Improving renter’s rights
  • Look at how WCC could help renters get a fair deal. In favor of long term tenures and finding ways to support this in both council and private markets.
• Warm, dry, safe rentals
  • Look into ways to create a landlord register and licencing. Maintain subsidies and support the Sustainability trusts insulation and curtain bank programme. Believes more needs to be done to ensure wellington housing meets standards and would look into ways of ensuring this if elected.
• Increasing supply and driving down rental prices
  • Agrees doubling WCC housing portfolio optimum but needs to be supported by the private market as well as council. Would like to see more creative ways of addressing supply like the Te Kainga project. Believes in bringing together developers, university students and other interested parties to find creative ways to increase housing stock.

• Read Laurie's responses in full
• Laurie Foon's official Facebook page.
• Laurie is not a renter or a landlord.

Thomas Morgan

Thomas Morgan did not provide specific answers to our questions so we are unable to score him according to our criteria. Here is his response in full:

“I don’t know much about renting without doing considerable research for which there is no time. Anything I say here will not be of much help as a result however if elected I would seek considerable expert advice on the matter and sort out the issues as raised if not already done so by Council officers (staff). The role of being a Councillor is that of the Board of Directors not as a manager. The only direction needed is to arrange effective and cost effective community housing that is affordable, liveable and equitable to those needing it most. This is the entire answer to your survey.”