Statistics released today show that rents have increased at 4.3 percent over the past year following last month’s 4.8 percent hike compared to the same time last year.

“Rents are continuing to rise at an alarmingly unaffordable rate despite the Government's claims their policies would result in downward pressure,” says the Green Party Spokesperson for Housing Tamatha Paul.

“Housing is a human right and something that should be afforded to all, and affordable to all, regardless of whether you rent or own. However, inaction from successive governments has allowed housing to become more of a business than a human right accessible to all.

“The current Government has tipped the balance of the housing market even further in favour of landlords by giving them $2.9 billion in tax cuts. Meanwhile, renters have been threatened with no-cause evictions and are faced with rising costs.

“All the while, the Prime Minister - who owns seven properties - tries to paint a picture of easing budget pressures on households when the reality is the exact opposite for many. Everything is getting more expensive, but rent is the most obvious expense for many people.

“The statistics tell us that one and a half million renters in this country spend disproportionately more of their income to live in older, colder, mouldier properties than those who own.

“Worse still, the Government has frozen much of the public housing build programme, allowing our housing market to slide into further disarray, leaving many struggling families out in the cold.

“We can ensure everyone has a healthy and affordable home by taxing wealth and using this revenue as a springboard to fund an ambitious public housing build programme. We need to limit rent increases, we need a Rental WOF, we need to treat housing as a human right. That’s why we wrote to the Prime Minister demanding that he take these actions.

“For too long, housing in Aotearoa has been treated as a business that benefits a few at the expense of the many. It is time for change,” says Tamatha Paul.

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