Greens co-leader Marama Davidson has been grilled for writing a public letter calling for rent controls as Associate Housing Minister.
Davidson on Thursday published an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern calling for an immediate rent freeze and for that to remain in place until rent controls are made "meaningful and permanent".
"An immediate rent freeze followed by permanent and meaningful rent controls is essential for recognising the human right everyone has to a warm, affordable home," Davidson wrote.
But Davidson came under fire from National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis, who said as Associate Housing Minister, the Greens co-leader should be able to lobby the Prime Minister for rent controls without publishing a public letter.
"It's farcical," Willis told reporters on Thursday at Parliament.
"Here we have someone who has been happy to take the role of the minister, the support, advice, budget and salary that goes with that but when it comes to actually getting results in her portfolio, the best she can do is write a letter to the Prime Minister.
"It's pathetic and actually, what it speaks to is this Government's complete failure on housing policy that has led to increasing levels of housing challenges in the community, and that minister is part of the problem."
Davidson said it's her role as co-leader to highlight Green Party solutions to renting, which was "outside the area" of the party's co-operation agreement with Labour and outside of her ministerial portfolios.
"James [Shaw] and I as co-leaders still have our own solutions as the Green Party," she told reporters on Thursday.
Davidson, when pressed on why she didn't just raise the issue with the Prime Minister as Associate Housing Minister, said: "They've made it very clear that that is not what they're wanting to do. This is about the Green Party putting up our solutions."
Davidson has long been pushing for rent controls.
Trade Me's latest data shows rents increased 8.5 percent or $45 to a record-breaking $575 per week in February. And for many people, buying a house is not a realistic prospect. Median prices for residential property increased 20.5 percent from $730,300 in January 2021 to $880,000 in January 2022, according to the Real Estate Institute.
Associate Housing Minister Poto Williams in February floated rent controls to help bring down rent prices but the Prime Minister later ruled it out.
The Greens raised concerns in February after official information obtained by Newshub showed the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development had just 5.95 full-time employees working on the Government's changes to the Residential Tenancies Act.
As part of its Residential Tenancies Act reforms, the Government has tried to make renting easier by limiting rent increases to once every 12 months and forcing all private rentals to comply with healthy homes standards.
Williams released a discussion document outlining the Government's plan to require residential property managers to comply with a Code of Conduct with fines of up to $100,000 for companies that do not comply.
Housing Minister Megan Woods in Parliament on Thursday said there were good signs of rents stabilising in regions where supply was catching up.
"Ultimately, the best way to lower rents is to increase the supply of affordable housing. It is important to recognise that rent increases are driven by long-run supply shortages in the housing market.
"The national increase for rent price increase for the year to February 2022 was 4.6 percent. In regions like Auckland and Canterbury - which have had a lot of residential building activity and therefore increased supply - rents increased by 2.7 percent in Auckland and 3 percent in Canterbury for the same period."
The latest building consent figures show a continuing shift towards denser dwellings, with townhouses leading the charge rising by 108 percent per annum to 1842 consents in February, the second-highest monthly total on record.
