National said in the news this morning that we need to fix the COL crisis, because now people are stealing FOOD from supermarkets and abusing staff, and it doesn't get reported to Police because it happens so often. When Jacinda was debating this a few years ago, National said that people were only stealing electronics and tobacco (not food). We are living in a Bizarro World comic right now when things Labour claimed a few years ago are now real.
...Thanks National and Labour
If the zoning wasn't regulated to benefit existing owners then apartments would be built, plus new townhouses, and these damp decaying places would be $100 a week. If there was an actual housing/rental market (you know, one with real competition, instead of a market that's propped up by government policy) that could work, but I'm not against insulation requirements. If they sent jackboot thugs to inspect homes and threatened to shut them down if landlords didn't comply, I'd fully support it.