Housing quality

Hello, Tēnā koutou!

Welcome to our discussion of Housing Quality.

I’m Tina, from Statistics New Zealand. I look forward to open and inclusive discussion over the next six weeks to understand your Housing-related information needs.

To me, given my line of work, this is the most important category, and we have been really lax about this data collection area in the past. It is the one chance we have to ask questions about, and gain data about, the houses that people live in. We could do with another whole raft of questions in this area. Housing size, for a start. Insulation level, also indicated by age of their dwelling. Method of construction - while people may not know that, they can report on their external cladding, whether the building leaks, whether it is joined to the neighbouring property etc, to get a wider picture of the housing condition, including quality.

Hi @guymarriage thanks for kicking off discussion :-)
It would be great to understand your interest in the Housing topic – would you kindly introduce yourself (and if applicable, an organisation you represent) here:
Welcome and Intros

No, i hate introductions. And although I work for an organisation, I certainly don't represent them, I'd rather not mention them thanks! I'm just a person, living in New Zealand. That'll do.

The 1981 Census and possibly prior collected information on amenities, insulation, and external cladding. We now have other information sources, as discussed in this report on Measuring Housing Quality
Does this existing information meet your needs? If not, what are the information gaps?

I agree on the importance of housing quality data and StatisticsNZ acknowledge of the inadequacy of this type of data on their web pages. Improving the quality of our housing stock is a particularly important strategies for local government. For example, housing quality is directly correlated with air pollution and health concerns, and is widely used in comparisons with OECD countries. I have looked at the alternative data proposed in the link you posted, however, I have two main concerns: The first is that I feel it is highly preferable to collect and (pre)analyse the data through one agency. This should, hopefully, ensure data standards, questions asked are agreed on and reduce the variance at this end. Secondly I am concerned that some of the data may be preferable (for example using inspections rather than self-reporting) in terms of accuracy, but the likelihood of getting funding for another BRANZ exercise under the current policies may be very small and these important data may thus not be collected, or collected irregularly as is the case now. I work at the Otago Regional Council and we find it difficult to measure the success or otherwise of some of our policies without data on housing quality (particularly heating and insulation). I am sure we are not alone in this.

Hi @anettebecher thanks for joining the discussion. So what would be your top 2-3 priorities to improve the information collected in the Census? Is there any information that is not useful that could be dropped?

Prior to 1986, the census used to collect information relating to housing quality, such as: materials for walls and roof, the presence of ceiling insulation and the presence of amenities such as running water, electricity etc.

In a 2013 research paper on measuring Severe Housing Deprivation see http://www.statisphere.govt.nz/further-resources-and-info/official-statistics-research/series/2013/severe-housing-deprivation.aspx , the report’s authors noted that the absence of detailed information on housing quality meant that it was difficult to establish the full extent of homelessness in New Zealand. They recommended that: Dwellings that lack basic amenities cannot currently be identified – this should be remedied. The presence or absence of basic amenities is ostensibly a criterion by which all New Zealand housing is classified in census data, and is recommended by the United Nations. Electricity, gas, and water supply information could be utilised, direct question asked of residents, or proxies could be developed and tested. All housing that lacks one or more basic amenities should be identifiable.
While there would not be scope for detailed information on housing quality to be collected in the census it is possible that if some basic questions were asked, this could prove an important adjunct to either survey or administrative data sources.

The valuation roll has a lot of building information that could be aggregated and reported by meshblock. This would avoid having to ask the questions on the form. I know there are problems of correctness and currency, but that could be addressed by the Valuer General enforcing the legal requirements to ensure local governments maintain the rolls.
At the moment this data is only available to the local government for their own area. if it was incorporated into the census series then we could all get access to this while not encroaching on the immensely valuable cashflow that is being collected for individual property enquiries. Because this is so lucrative there is significant resistance to releasing the information in bulk for analysis.

@kimollivier I really like the idea of integrating existing information. Asking the same questions again is not only wasteful in terms of time and money, but may also be counterproductive if, for example, information for one property from two different sources is incongruent. Is there an opportunity for integration of these data under StatisticsNZ's Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) initiative. I realise the IDI is focused on individuals orhouseholds (person centred) and businesses (business centred). While housing quality information may appear to be out of scope, it does help us to understand how people fare.