HomeFit is a no-nonsense, straightforward way to check how easily a home can be kept warm, dry and safe. When we launched it in 2018 we knew many New Zealand homes weren't up to scratch. Statistics from the latest census show around one in four people live in damp homes - or 24.2 percent. Worryingly, 40.3 percent of Māori and 45.9 percent of Pacific people living in damp houses.
So far more than 45,000 online checks have been done using HomeFit, giving occupants of those homes a better idea of how easily it can keep them warm and dry. It has also provide some useful insights into what areas our homes are falling short.
These figures align closely with what we'd seen a year ago. It's vital we improve our building standards and ensure New Zealanders have healthy, warm places to live.
Homeowners looking to improve their home made up the largest proportion of HomeFit checks (62%), followed by tenants wanting more information out their rentals.
Encouragingly HomeFit was used over 2000 times by buyers in their search for a home, while more than 3000 checks were completed by landlords looking to meet their obligations under the Healthy Homes Standards.
Over the last year we've updated HomeFit, including ensuring an assessment by one of our trained assessors can be used to show compliance with the Healthy Homes Standards.
To find out more about HomeFit or to book a HomeFit assessment visit homefit.org.nz