The Associate Housing Minister’s investigation of rent control is “dangerous, desperate policy” says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “Poto Williams cannot seriously be considering rent control – a policy that Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck once called ‘the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing’.”

“Two of the Taxpayers’ Union’s younger staff members are currently struggling to find flats in Wellington during the peak rental season. One was rendered homeless and has now relocated to Auckland to stay with family. The other has eight days left on their lease and is now making 'jokes' about moving into our office. The high rents demanded are painful, but the real killer is the intense shortage – prospective renters are competing with dozens of others at crowded flat viewings.”

“Rent control of any kind will only exacerbate shortages. Using regulation to force prices down will increase demand for rentals while also causing some landlords to withdraw properties from the market. This means more people living out of cars, on couches, and on the streets.”

“Rent controls would also see landlords resort to cost-cutting measures – this could include neglecting basic maintenance, making rental properties less safe.”

“By raising rent control as a serious response to our rental shortage, Poto Williams reveals how totally lost her Government has become on housing, wasting months and years delaying reform of the Resource Management Act. National bears blame for this too – if land use laws had been reformed a decade ago to allow more building, renters might not have ended up in such a desperate situation.”

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