Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

I spoke yesterday to a construction consultant about the housing building boom going on right now and how it’s hampered by supply chain interruptions and inflationary pressures.  Basically, the cost of building is doubling. And as inflation creeps, its tentacles are hitting everywhere and everyone. Auckland City Mission says it's seen the highest demand for its services over the past three months, in all of its 100-year history. Tens of thousands of families are needing food, it’s handing out 16,000 food parcels a week, which is double pre-Covid amounts. The trouble is not just Covid and lockdowns creating more need, but the cost of living. Food, power, water, rent. And here’s the rub, we’ve never had more money pumped into the economy, yet thousands upon thousands are struggling. Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce pointed out at the weekend that “pumping more money into a country than it has capacity for,” means “that money ends up chasing too few goods and services and that means inflation.” It’s not just