Frustrated would-be first-home buyers will get a hand up as the Government moves to lift house price limits for KiwiSaver subsidies and low-deposit loans.

Analysis shows just 43 per cent of target-age Aucklanders could buy a $500,000 house under bank lending criteria.

COMMENT: Our country, so rich, green and clean-looking on the outside has entrenched difficult and dark issues to deal with on the inside.

The 30th anniversary of the Homosexual Law Reform Bill is being celebrated around the country today. Prominent Kiwis talk about what it means to them.

COMMENT: The Labour Party is introducing smart, innovative plans that are investing in our future.

Claire Trevett looks at the party's progress in the shaping of its plans to wrest power from the National Party at next year's general election.

The Herald asked a number of Labour voters - past and present - in downtown Auckland how they felt about the party and why they continued to back Labour or had decided to change their support.

Saturday marks 30 years since that milestone in the gay rights movement, an anniversary that will be celebrated in Parliament tonight.

About 200 people braved freezing conditions overnight to sleep in their cars as part of the Park Up for Homes event in Auckland's Onehunga.

Chris Finlayson waited until after the sentencing of Tania Shailer and David Haerewa to comment on the case since the pair pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

New Zealand ranking from first two years ago to 10th this year attributed to soaring house prices and bulging waistlines.

Cannabis decriminalisation could happen through a citizen-initiated referendum, says reform advocate Helen Kelly.

When Kellie Mulgrew started having epileptic seizures six weeks after giving birth, a tiny agency called Parent Aid Waitakere was her lifesaver.

An official report has uncovered starkly unequal lives for New Zealand's main ethnic groups.

Retirement has become an outdated concept for 140,000 New Zealanders who have reached 65 and are still clocking in to work.

After 10 days on mattresses at Te Puea Marae, the first thing B's little brothers wanted to do in their new home was run up and down the stairs.

COMMENT: People in crisis need help, not judgment made in ignorance, writes the mother of a family once homeless.

Boxing legend David Tua will sleep in his car for a night next week, joining a growing national movement calling for houses for homeless families.

Marking World Refugee Day, the Herald spoke to a refugee family who escaped from Laos to New Zealand 33 years ago, risking their lives to do so.

Vulnerable youths were at risk in a youth justice residence, while other facilities have an institutional feel and "prison-like" secure care, says a report.

Hundreds spend night in cars in support of homeless families.

Mangere Town Centre carpark is packed with people this evening as they prepare to sleep in their cars for an event raising awareness on homelessness.

Mangere Town Centre carpark is packed with people this evening as they prepare to sleep in their cars for an event raising awareness on homelessness.

COMMENT: Heart-breaking stories of families living in cars, garages and overcrowded houses demonstrate that our welfare state is broken, writes Catriona MacLennan.

What makes people get into politics? Imagine being the Minister of Social Housing, and seeing someone who helps the homeless as the enemy.

Foketi Purcell gave her longtime friend Brenda Sekona a car, a thank you for taking her and her family in when two years earlier they had nowhere else to go.

COMMENT: New Zealand's annual refugee intake of 750 was disgracefully low. An intake of 1000 is not much better.

COMMENT: On average around 200 Americans are killed and wounded in mass shootings every month

Richard Edwards and Janet Hoek suggest the next targets in the campaign against smoking should be dairies and other outlets selling tobacco products.

Housing New Zealand is being accused of causing homelessness by evicting people who can't get rehoused anywhere else.