Govt looking at rent controls

Stuff reports:

Nothing is off the table, including rent controls, as Government officials search for ways to help people struggling with the cost of accommodation, Associate Housing Minister Poto Williams says.

“I’ve charged our officials at HUD (Ministry of Housing and Urban Development) to go away and look at what are the options we can put in, in the short term, to support our renters,” she told Breakfast on Thursday.

“We’ve asked the officials to come back with a list next week of things that we can look at. There is nothing off the table,” Williams said.

“There are a whole lot of proposals that are being floated at the moment, including things like rent control and indexation. There are other things that I’ve asked our officials to look at.”

They’re looking at daft stuff which would reduce the supply of rental housing. They’re not looking at their own role in driving rental prices up by imposing massive extra costs and compliance on landlords.