PHOTO: NZ rents are out of control. FILE
Associate Housing Minister Poto Williams has proposed rent controls as the cost of living bites low income earners – an idea ACT has described as “crazy”.
The Associate Housing Minister told Breakfast on Thursday that officials had been tasked with compiling a list of proposals the Government could consider to help renters – and rent control was one idea she said had been “floated”.
“What we are looking at now are some anomalies that are in our system which means that our rents are becoming unaffordable for our families,” Williams said.
“I’ve charged our officials to go away and look at what are the options we can put in the short term to support our renters whilst we roll out the programme of housing.”
She repeatedly said there was “nothing off the table”, acknowledging that it is “tough” for renters and that “affordability is a tough nut to crack”.
It comes as the cost of living soars, with the price of goods and services in New Zealand up 5.9 percent in the last three months of 2021 compared to 2020 – the biggest jump since a 7.6 percent annual increase in 1990.
The latest results from Retail Radar show that in the fourth quarter – October, November and December – 57 percent of retailers increased prices. Nearly three-quarters of retailers expect to increase prices over the next three months by around 7.5 percent.
The average hourly wage, by comparison, rose just 3.8 percent to $35.61 an hour. Meanwhile, rents have increased by an annual 3.8 percent and are expected to move higher given the impacts of inflation, according to ASB senior economist Mark Smith.
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