Measuring the Effect of Housing Quality Interventions: The Case of the New Zealand “Rental Warrant of Fitness”

Lucy Telfar-Barnard, Julie Bennett, Philippa Howden-Chapman, David E. Jacobs, David Ormandy, Matthew Cutler-Welsh, Nicholas Preval, Michael G. Baker and Michael Keall
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Lucy Telfar-Barnard: Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington 6021, New Zealand
Julie Bennett: Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington 6021, New Zealand
Philippa Howden-Chapman: Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington 6021, New Zealand
David E. Jacobs: School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
David Ormandy: Warwick Medical School—Health Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV5 6EG, UK
Matthew Cutler-Welsh: Home Style Green, Auckland 1072, New Zealand
Nicholas Preval: Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington 6021, New Zealand
Michael G. Baker: Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington 6021, New Zealand
Michael Keall: Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington 6021, New Zealand

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: In New Zealand, as in many other countries, housing in the private-rental sector is in worse condition than in the owner-occupier housing sector. New Zealand residential buildings have no inspection regime after original construction signoff. Laws and regulations mandating standards for existing residential housing are outdated and spread over a range of instruments. Policies to improve standards in existing housing have been notoriously difficult to implement. In this methods paper, we describe the development and implementation of a rental Warrant of Fitness (WoF) intended to address these problems. Dwellings must pass each of 29 criteria for habitability, insulation, heating, ventilation, safety, amenities, and basic structural soundness to reach the WoF minimum standard. The WoF’s development was based on two decades of research on the impact of housing quality on health and wellbeing, and strongly influenced by the UK Housing Health and Safety Rating System and US federal government housing standards. Criteria were field-tested across a range of dwelling types and sizes, cities, and climate zones. The implementation stage of our WoF research consists of a non-random controlled quasi-experimental study in which we work with two city-level local government councils to implement the rental WoF, recruiting adjoining council areas as controls, and measuring changes in health, economic, and social outcomes.

Keywords: housing quality; tenure; policy; evaluation; standards; health; economic; housing standards; housing assessment; home health and safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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