The Council of Trade Unions has welcomed a Green Party pre budget announcement today of $50 million to go towards insulation of state housing.

“There are so many reasons why investing in healthy and warm homes is beneficial to low income families in state houses,” CTU vice president Maori Sharon Clair said. 

“Home affordability is not just about house prices – it is also about incomes, and low wages means home ownership is now increasingly out of reach for low and middle income New Zealanders,” CTU president Ross Wilson told a select committee today.

“Home affordability is not just about house prices – it is also about incomes, and the Council of Trade Unions submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Housing Affordability says that the Select Committee should also look at the problem of low pay,” CTU Economist Peter Conway said this morning.

The Council of Trade Unions says more needs to be done to lift the wages of working New Zealanders if we are to address the housing affordability crisis.

"Regular wage increases and workers accessing KiwiSaver are two vital ingredients in tackling the high cost of home ownership which is increasingly out of reach for many Kiwis,” CTU Economist Peter Conway said.

"The fact that a 9.6% annual increase in house prices is seen as relatively low is a symptom of how far out of reach housing has become for many Kiwis" said Peter Conway CTU Economist today.

"Massey University’s Home Affordability report highlights the importance of measures like Kiwisaver in assisting New Zealanders with their first home purchase," CTU president Ross Wilson said.

A new approach was needed to help finance low-income families into secure, affordable housing, Council of Trade Unions economist Peter Conway said today.

The CTU was welcoming signals from the Government reported today that more may be done to assist New Zealanders into home ownership.