10. Question No. 10—Housing (Public Housing)CHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green—Auckland Central) to the Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing)Question No. 10—Housing (Public Housing)10. CHLÖE SWARBRICK (Green—Auckland Central) to the Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing): Does she stand by her statement that We will continue to keep a close eye on rent prices and will take further action if necessary"; if so what specific further actions are being considered?Hon POTO WILLIAMS (Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing)): Yes. The Government has taken a number of actions to date. We have limited rent increases to once a year banned rental bidding and banned letting fees. This is in addition to our work to increase overall supply including looking at how we can specifically increase the number of purpose-built rentals. While there's no silver bullet to addressing the issue there is more that we can do and that's why we're looking at what additional measures we can use to support our renters. While I cannot pre-empt any upcoming policy decisions this Government is committed to providing more support for renters.Chlöe Swarbrick: What does her officials' advice say about how long those Government interventions just noted will take to start to have an effect on rental costs?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: While we haven't analysed that impact as yet what I can say is that we are looking at a range of measures. The officials will come back with a suite of measures for us to consider to do what we can. We know it's tough for renters and we're committed to doing the work to support them.Chlöe Swarbrick: Does she consider that a median nationwide rent of $525 per week is affordable for households on low or middle incomes? Hon POTO WILLIAMS: We know it's tough. We know rents have risen. We know that people are doing it tough out there. That's why as a Government we're committed to looking at a range of measures to put in place to support our renters but it's not just about what measures we can do in terms of rent; it's also about supply and I commend the work that Minister Woods has been doing to increase the supply which has demonstrated the impact that that can have on rental prices.Chlöe Swarbrick: Did the Government consider detailed advice on potential models to stabilise and reduce rental costs between her statements on 3 February and the Prime Minister's statement on 8 February ruling out rent controls?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: There is evidence to suggest that rent controls aren't an effective way to deal with renters' issues long term. So the Prime Minister and I agree. This Government is committed to dealing with this issue. It's tough on our renters and we are going to do something about it.Chlöe Swarbrick: Will the Government at least consider freezing rents again as they did in 2020 as the only immediate urgent tool to provide relief to renters as part of an equitable response to COVID-19?Hon POTO WILLIAMS: While it was necessary to do that at a time of pandemic to ensure that we didn't throw people out of their homes when we were asking them to lock down the Government's made multiple changes to improve the security and rights of renters including limiting rent increases to once a year. These measures were not in place during the last lockdown but came into effect on 12 August 2020. The Tenancy Tribunal continued to operate during this time in which time the tenants could seek rental reductions if they believed their rents were too high."