A new Essential Guardian poll shows 60 per cent of Australians support a freeze on rental increases.
Greens candidate for the federal seat of Richmond, Mandy Nolan, has welcomed national polling data showing strong public support for the Greens’ housing policies.
Ms Nolan says this is a policy the Greens have been pushing but is opposed by the Labor government.
‘In the middle of the worst housing affordability crisis in decades, the government is doing nothing to help renters. We need an immediate two-year rent freeze,’ says Mandy Nolan, who last week announced she’s running again in Richmond. The federal electorate has been held by the Labor incumbent Justine Elliot for almost two decades.
Another report this week confirms the national crisis in rental affordability is getting worse, with estimates from ANZ CoreLogic that low-income households must now spend over half their income on rent. When renters are paying more than one-third of their income in rent they are considered to be in rental stress.
‘All of us in this electorate know stories of teachers, nurses and other essential workers who can’t afford houses or rents here. Rents have spiralled out of control,’ says Mandy Nolan, who led a protest rally last summer for action against unrestrained holiday-letting.
Just last month the Independent Planning Commission (IPC) recommended a strict annual 60-day cap for holiday-letting in Byron Shire following community campaigning to try and free up more local houses for renting, including a submission from the Greens candidate.
‘As a past chair of the Women’s Village Collective, I’ve seen the dark side of the housing crisis in our community. But I’ve also lived it. I’ve been a single mum living in a rental. I know the housing stress first-hand’ says Nolan.
Local resident Professor David Henry famously told the Planning Commission’s public hearings about a hospital doctor and trained firefighter who recently wanted to move to the area but could not even find a house to live in.
‘This crisis is undermining the fabric of our community,’ says Henry.
And that ‘2 years’ will have to be extended to ’10 years’, regardless of rising costs for landlords, so no more houses will be built. Dragging out ‘rent control’ just shows the Greens economic illiteracy. Clown world.
CVS you need to catch up.
Housing BAU, is broken. Its what happens when an essential of life – Housing – has been turned into a Financial Asset to played with on this thing that is labelled, ‘Housing Market’.
Housing affordability is no longer the Australian Dream, finding a rental that can be afforded is the new Australian Dream. And our governments have been complicit in it all with the years and years of Negative Gearing and Capital Gains Tax Concessions handouts that has now reached the staggering amount of some $’s20billions pa.
Governments have for decades reduced their role in building homes, vacating the field for the Negative Gearers and of course our pollies right in there negative gearing their one / multiple properties for themselves.
Instead of the Government piling into negative gearing, time way long past for government to be directly funding building.
We have a housing crisis right Now, we need direct government funding housing building right, Now.
The RBA Governor in Senate Estimates had a wonderful solution for renters, stay at home longer with Mum and Dad or find a flatmate.
That should soothe the worries of renters.
If its okay to have wage caps / freezes / controls, whatever you want to call it, that sees peoples wages falling further and further behind, but its not okay to similarly put a cap / freeze / control on an essential such as rent, then we really are delivering a societal fail.
Everything you listed is market interference by government, that creates perverse incentives, and thus misallocation of capital. Remove all the market limitations, red tape, green tape, blue tape, and the market will automatically reallocate capital to best serve the people. And stop printing money and importing infinite third worlds while you are at it.
Call a freeze on parliamentary pay rises first if you want credibility.
News flash – the amount or number of rental increases is not the problem, the demand for the limited number of homes and apartments is.
Supply more homes, demand and prices fall.
Our Govt announces 700,000 more immigrants in budget to catch up from lockdown years, without mentioning where they will be housed.
Perhaps a Council Rates freeze may help, both as rate increases are passed on as increased rents, but also for owners who managed to buy here when prices were dirt cheap but now faced with annual increased Rates payments just to continue staying living here
Perhaps a Council Rates freeze may help.
Seriously?
How about freezing migration into Australia ( 400,000+ this year est) until this crisis is fixed?
The problem is that under the constitution the federal government can’t impose rent freezes, only the states. It’s very disingenuous for the greens candidate to call for this, as with her federally elected colleagues, when they probably know this the case. Greens want more housing( good) but know where near them if one looks at how they have operated.
Yes Rod, the Greens are notorious for promising everything they must know they can’t deliver; prepare for much more of these grandstanding issues by the queen of comedy in the lead up to the next election, just vote Labor and you will get what is deliverable.
Keith, do catchup, the Rent issue emergency is on the agenda of next National Cabinet get together.
“Everything is impossible until it’s not. Labor has spent months saying it’s not possible for national cabinet to freeze rent increases. Well thanks to months of campaigning, Labor have announced a rent freeze and caps are on the NC agenda.” · Apr 28, 2023 Max Chandler-Mather.
And the Greens have a Rent Bill in the Senate right now. Looking forward to ALP adopting another Greens policy initiative, its not as if the ALP that is too slow, too lazy to do the policy work, doesn’t enjoy picking up and running with Greens policies.
I don’t quite get this Joachim. The date of “the Max” quote is April 28. National Cabinet had met that day and already discussed housing policy and rent relief – along, no doubt, with a range of pre budget measures. It announced a meeting of housing ministers to discuss standardising policy in this area.
When is the next National Cabinet meeting and where did you see its agenda?
It’s best not to rely for all your news on Greens websites and social accounts – you kind of get only one slant on things.
Mr Lizardbreath, our dear Joachim is definitely not one to let trivial facts get in the way of a good Greens rant attacking the Labor Party.
Lizardbreath, it is quite simple really, you just need to check events.
If you bothered yourself enough to check before you wrote, the “the Max” quote was posted 28/4/23 at 1.18pm which was AFTER the conclusion of that day’s ( 28/4/23) National Cabinet Meeting and PM Albanese presser that he held after that day’s National Cabinet Meeting had ended.
Here’s a part transcript from PM Albanese’s presser on the Rent issue,
“Let’s unpack that comment about strengthing renters rights
28 Apr, 11:50am
By Jessica Riga
Reporter: You mentioned strengthening renters rights across the country. Obviously they’re different across the jurisdictions, is the report about reform on a national settings?
Albanese: There’s a range of measures that each of the state and territory jurisdictions have different provisions. And so what we’re not seeking to do is to have absolutely uniform because different states will have different circumstances. But there are measures and commitments every state and territory is doing something in this area.
So what will occur over coming months is looking at the different programs that are in place. Some of those are around the frequency of any rent increase that can occur in at least one jurisdiction’s case, it’s also over the amount that can occur of any increase.
There are a range of measures that will be considered by state and territory governments to strengthen the system of renters’ rights, agreement on that. There will — it’s up to states and territories — this is within their power to determine. So I doubt whether you’ll have a completely uniform system coming out. What you will have is housing ministers working together over coming months..”
Liazrdbreath, it best not to rely on the daily talking sheet from ALP HQ and get yourself up to speed with the details first hand.
Joachim, what’s new here? Isn’t this what I wrote? MCM’s statement came after the meeting and appeared to be trying to grandstand and claim credit for what the NC had already had on the agenda and been exploring. You really think the government isn’t aware and concerned about housing affordability? Look at the number in the ministerial ranks who have direct experience of single parenthood and disadvantage. Yes including the PM.
i can guarantee I have no talking sheets from ALP headquarters and yes I had read the reports of Albo’s presser. It’s you who still need to explain your comment of June 2 “Keith, do catchup, the Rent issue emergency is on the agenda of NEXT (my emphasis) National Cabinet get together” and answer my enquiry: “ When is the next National Cabinet meeting and where did you see its agenda?”
Who are Nolan and the Greens calling on to implement this “rent freeze”, the Federal Govt who has little powers in this area, or the States where most of this power lies, I’m betting the clowns don’t even know.
‘Well Keith, you need to try harder than rely on the daily talking points sheet copied to you from ALP HQ.
Keith, if you had paid proper attention to the issue of Greens proposal for rent freeze / control / stabilisation then you would have noted “the clowns” have proposed that the Fed Govt and State Governments work together to make it happen.
Keith, we know that reading, even when you spoon fed the story, isn’t your strong suit but hey, we give it another shot.
You can dial up NSW Greens and Federal Greens websites to get information on Greens rent proposals or even get yourself onto The Guardian website and dial up the following story –
‘Give states $16bn in return for nationwide rent freeze, Adam Bandt says
Freezing residential rents possible, Greens leader to tell National Press Club, thanks to ‘wall-to-wall Labor state governments’
Paul Karp Chief political correspondent
@Paul_Karp
Wed 26 Apr 2023 01.00 AEST’
Keith, instead of comedic, “the clowns” putdown line on the Green, try actually learning yourself up on details instead of advertising yourself as being, The Clown.