Thank you for supporting Curtain Call. On Wednesday May 24th we launch our campaign urging the public to help us ‘close the gap’, by signing our petition to pressure all political parties to legislate for effective curtains within the Healthy Homes Standards.
Together we can ‘close the gap’ by making sure every home has effective curtains that hold warmth in. When our homes have effective curtains we are warmer, healthier and our energy spend works for all families.
Curtain Call is led by Habitat for Humanity, Community Energy Network, Starship Foundation, Beacon Pathway and Sustainability Trust. Your organisation is part of Curtain Call’s wider network that brings together dozens of organisations with strong connections in community and health. Together we believe we can enable a strong public voice that will impact political decision making and make our proposed change in legislation a reality.
Current delivery of curtains into lower income rental homes is led by a number of Curtain Banks. These are primarily set up through not-for-profit organisations who aren’t necessarily well funded and rely on voluntary labour and donated materials. This network of Curtain Banks is working together to create lasting change at a policy level by addressing the gaps in the Healthy Homes Standard.
Every year, tens of thousands of Kiwis are hospitalised with conditions made worse by cold, damp housing, with elderly, Māori and Pacific families far more likely to be affected. The government has mandated insulation and heating but not curtains through the Healthy Homes Standards. This is a problem because even in a well-insulated home, without curtains up to 45% of the heat is flying directly out the window. Why heat the neighbourhood when we can heat the home just by installing curtains.
The impact of ineffectively covered windows is particularly hard on people, whose budgets don’t stretch to buying and installing curtains and who can’t afford to pay high energy bills to heat their homes. Simply adding effective curtains to a home makes a big difference to people’s health and wellbeing.
Curtain Call are urging you and your networks to close the gap by signing and sharing our petition link, sharing our social posts and most importantly joining the cause to make effective curtains mandatory in rental homes.
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