Labour not ruling out rent controls

Newshub reports:

ACT’s housing spokesperson Brooke van Velden says Finance Minister Grant Robertson has “dropped another bombshell on property investors” after failing to rule out putting limits on how much landlords can hike rents.

Following the release of the Government’s housing plan on Tuesday in an attempt to crack down on property investors, landlords have threatened they’ll hike rents to cover the loss.

Appearing on Newshub Nation on Saturday Robertson said “we’ll keep an eye on that” and didn’t rule out including caps on rent hikes.

Good God.

This should not be a surprise. In 2013 Robertson campaigned on a rent freeze policy in an attempt to win the Labour leadership.

A rent freeze would of course increase homelessness and has been described by a Swedish economist who chairs the Nobel Economics Prize Committee as “the best way to destroy a city, other than bombing.”