Chief Executive's Overview

Welcome to the Department of Building and Housing's first Statement of Intent. The Department was established on 1 November 2004, following the housing sector review and the review of the Building Industry Authority, and consolidates building and housing regulatory and dispute resolution functions into one agency. The Statement of Intent will evolve over time as the Department comes together as one integrated organisation.

The housing and building sector is important economically and socially. Between 4 and 5 percent of the New Zealand economy's Gross Domestic Production comes from the building and construction sector, with 90 percent of households' net wealth in housing. The Department of Building and Housing has this sector as its primary focus.

Establishing the Department provides a unique opportunity to bring together a range of building- and housing-related services and functions as well as resources, capability and expertise to create a critical mass to better deliver on government outcomes.

Key Priorities

A key priority for the 2005/06 year, and following years, is implementing the new Building Act 2004. The Act is a significant regulatory reform designed to ensure that buildings are built right first time. Houses and other buildings play an important role in New Zealanders' lives. At its heart, the Act is about ensuring buildings and homes built for New Zealanders are safe, durable and provide a built environment that enhances all New Zealanders' economic, social and environmental wellbeing. The Act will take 3 to 5 years to fully implement.

To support the introduction of the new Act the Department will, as a priority, continue to work closely with territorial authorities (as co-regulators) and industry stakeholders.

A significant part of implementing the new Building Act is developing the licensed building practitioners regime. Licensing building practitioners will provide a professional framework for building practitioners. It will encourage better practices in design and construction and improve consumer confidence in the quality of building processes and the capability of those involved. This will mean that critical design and building work is carried out by people who have demonstrated that they meet national standards of competence. The licensing regime will begin operating in early 2007 and will be fully implemented from 30 November 2009. Development of the regime involves wide consultation with the housing and building sector and the education and training sector, and working actively together to deliver the new regime.

The Department will also be working to improve the effectiveness of the broader regulatory framework for the building and housing sector. During 2005/06 it will complete its reviews of the Residential Tenancies Act and the Unit Titles Act. These reviews are designed to ensure that the law governing rental housing and multi-unit developments, such as apartments, town houses and office blocks, where property ownership is through unit title, supports modern day needs now and into the future.

The Department will also focus on how it delivers its tenancy services, which provide a dispute resolution service and information to tenants and landlords on their rights and obligations. A third of New Zealanders rent their homes, with approximately 80 percent renting from a private landlord or trust. Tenancy Services' focus will be on ensuring better access to its services and better connection with the communities it serves.

The Department has a significant work programme ahead in both the medium and long term. To be successful we will need to build our capability and capacity and ensure that, having merged the functions of five organisations, we have in place the systems and processes and organisational culture that successfully support achieving the government's outcomes.

Key to the Department's success will be ensuring we have strong relationships across the housing and building sector and with education and training providers and consumer organisations. We are committed to working together with local authorities to assist them to build the capabilities and capacity needed to successfully fulfil their roles under the new Building Act.

We are also committed to working together with other agencies to help bring about the best possible outcomes for all New Zealanders. This commitment to working together arises from the realisation that:

• many of our services are effective only in combination with the services provided by other government and non-government agencies
• stakeholders and consumers often have multiple needs that are best addressed together, instead of being dealt with separately by different agencies.

This is particularly so in respect of agencies within the social sector.

We look forward to further strengthening our relationship with Housing New Zealand Corporation as we work together with them and other agencies to deliver on the initiatives outlined in the government's New Zealand Housing Strategy.

This is an exciting and challenging time for the Department as we work to build a new organisation and focus on delivering outcomes within the building and housing sector that meet the expectations of all New Zealanders.

Katrina Bach
Chief Executive