Everyone deserves a decent, secure life. It’s time New Zealand talked about rent controls | Chloe Swarbrick

Under the government's current plans it will be half a century before house prices return to affordability

One-third of New Zealanders rent. In my electorate and home, Auckland Central, the centre of the largest city in the country, it's even more: 54%.

For a really long time, the conversation around housing was one of avocados and flat whites. Renters, we were told, were in a temporary moment of their life. They were, the story went, on a path to homeownership, if only they could reign in their spending on fancy cafe food.