Labour Housing Plan — Affordability, Security, and Supply

The Policy: Labour Homes Policy — 2026 →

Labour's 2026 housing platform rests on three pillars: making it easier for first home buyers to get on the ladder, restoring tenant protections that the current National-led government dismantled, and building more homes through a mix of direct public construction and subsidised community housing finance. Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty frames the platform as a direct reversal of what he calls three years of neglect — a period during which the waitlist for social housing has grown while the government has sold state properties and re-enabled no-cause evictions.

The current National-led government restored full mortgage interest deductibility for landlords (estimated at roughly $3 billion in tax relief), cut the brightline test back from ten years to two, re-introduced no-cause tenancy terminations, and scrapped the First Home Grants scheme. Labour opposes all of these moves.

What it does:

• $950 million Crown guarantee for Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA) Social Bonds — announced June 2026, would lift CHFA's credit rating from A+ to AAA, cutting borrowing costs for community housing providers by roughly half a percentage point. Labour estimates for every 11 homes built the savings pay for a 12th, at no additional taxpayer cost.
• Restore the ban on no-cause evictions — Labour banned no-fault terminations under the Residential Tenancies Act in 2020; National reversed this in 2024. Labour would reinstate the ban, alongside restoring fixed-term tenancies automatically rolling to periodic once they expire.
• Restore the 10-year brightline test — Labour extended capital gains liability on investment property sales from two to ten years (2021); National reduced it back to two years (2024). Labour has signalled it would restore a longer brightline, though its precise position on the exact term or interest deductibility for the 2026 campaign had not been fully confirmed as of late June 2026.
• Back community housing providers — the CHFA Crown guarantee targets charities, iwi, Pacific and disability organisations, and transitional housing providers. Combined with reduced CHFA lending margins, Labour says this would deliver more social and affordable homes without new Crown spending.
• Oppose Kainga Ora asset sales — Labour built approximately 18,000 public homes during its 2017–2023 governments; it opposes the current government's sale of state properties and argues Kainga Ora should be used to expand, not contract, the public housing stock.
• First home buyer support — the official platform commits to making it easier to buy a first home, with earlier Labour policy referencing First Home Grants, First Home Loans, and the Progressive Home Ownership (rent-to-own) scheme. Full 2026 detail is yet to be released.

Where things stand:

Labour sits in opposition with a full housing platform still being rolled out ahead of the 2026 election, now confirmed as the party's next major campaign. As of late June 2026, Chris Hipkins's Labour Party held its annual conference with delegates described as "fired up," though the Spinoff noted as recently as August 2025 that no comprehensive policy had yet been released. The $950 million CHFA Crown guarantee, announced 24 June 2026, is the most concrete housing policy released to date.

The government's Budget 2026 social housing shake-up prompted sharp Labour criticism. The changes raise tenant income contributions to social housing rent from 25% to 30%, tighten eligibility criteria, and introduce potential tenancy duration limits. Hipkins described this as "cruel and mean" during a cost-of-living crisis, saying it would leave 34,000 families with children, 30,000 pensioners, and 27,000 people with disabilities worse off by around $30 a week. McAnulty pledged Labour would reverse the tenant contribution increase.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop responded to Labour's CHFA guarantee by noting that the existing CHFA facility has already financed 34 providers, enabling community housing providers to borrow at around 4% versus 8.5% through banks — a lower starting cost than Labour's guarantee framing suggests.

What to watch:

• Labour's full 2026 housing policy launch — expected later in the election campaign, likely to include specific public housing build targets, a firm brightline test position, and first home buyer scheme details.
• Parliamentary scrutiny of the Budget 2026 social housing changes — tenancy duration limits and stricter eligibility criteria still being worked through, with Labour and Greens running joint opposition.
• Kainga Ora property sales — each approved sale batch (such as the 171 Ormiston properties approved in 2026) becomes a flashpoint for Labour's opposition housing messaging.
• Whether Labour confirms a position on mortgage interest deductibility — the party has deliberately avoided committing on this sensitive issue, with hints it may take a partial (50%) deductibility approach rather than a full phase-out.