Government is mooting prospect of rent controls, new documents reveal
28 Apr, 2021 08:58 PM
3 minutes to read
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Housing Minister Megan Woods on their way to a press conference announcing details on the Labour Government s housing plans. Photo / Jason Walls
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Housing Minister Megan Woods on their way to a press conference announcing details on the Labour Government s housing plans. Photo / Jason Walls
Jason Walls is a political reporter for the New Zealand Heraldjason.walls@nzme.co.nz@Jasonwalls92
Treasury officials mooted the prospect of the Government implementing rent control measures in a bid to offset the negative impacts of recent housing policy changes.
Thursday, 29 April 2021, 12:18 pm
“Labour’s changes to housing loan schemes ignore
basic economics and will further fuel the housing crisis,”
says ACT’s Housing Spokesperson Brooke van
Velden.
“The Government’s proposals to increase
price caps and funding through the First Home Grant and
First Home Loan schemes are not only likely to be
ineffective, but official
advice says they could make the housing crisis
worse.
“The Ministry for Housing and Urban
Development specifically recommended against increasing
price caps and income caps multiple times warning that the
policy changes could increase house
prices:
‘…we do not recommend increasing the
price caps for existing properties, as this would inflate