The fifth hearing of the Greens-led Senate Inquiry into intergenerational housing inequity, held in Sydney today, showed an increasing number of experts support the case for rent caps, as renters face runaway rent increases.
Additional evidence to the committee today showed:
Renters (31% of the population) face deep housing insecurity due to insecure rental contracts, unlimited rent increases and no-cause evictions.
Renters don’t feel they have options: they endure rent increases unchallenged and forego making maintenance requests to avoid facing evictions.
Lifelong renters don’t have assets to pass down to their children for a house deposit, which perpetuates intergenerational housing inequality.
Social housing has fallen from 5.7% of dwellings in the 1990s to 3.6% today, and Australia sits well behind the OECD average of 7.1%.
Current government investment in social housing is inadequate to reverse the decades-long decline in social housing stock.
Lack of government of investment in social housing has contributed to acute housing need and homelessness.
Working hard and saving no longer gets ordinary Australians into home ownership.
Younger people are giving up on the great Australian dream of ever owning a home.
Australia is becoming an inheritance society rather than a wage society.
People with parental support are nearly twice as likely to own a home compared to people who don’t have parental support.
Wealth is increasingly held by a minority of wealthy older households. People aged 65+ have received around 8 times the increase in overall wealth compared to people under 35 over the last two decades.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, housing inequity is about intergenerational dispossession. Housing shapes health, education, safety and connection to community and culture and it is an investment in self-determination.
As stated by Greens spokesperson for finance, housing and homelessness and Senator for South Australia, Barbara Pocock:
“This inquiry makes it clear that governments haven’t delivered relief for renters.
“We’ve heard powerful evidence from young renters who are struggling to meet unexpected rent hikes, who are facing possible eviction.
“The current rental market is the most unaffordable in Australian history with some of the highest rates of rental stress.
“Too many renters are just one rent hike away from eviction or homelessness.
“Renters don’t have a buffer – they are the buffer. When interest rates rise, landlords pass the cost straight on.”
“House prices have skyrocketed – up three times faster than wages in just five years. The average home now costs $1 million.
“For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, housing inequity is the legacy of intergenerational dispossession. Investing in housing is key to self determination.
“After four years in government, Australia’s housing crisis is now Labor’s housing crisis.
“Labor has locked in existing tax breaks for wealthy property investors and super profits for big corporations – while renters pay the price.
“Labor’s priorities are clear: tax handouts for wealthy investors, super profits for corporations, and higher costs for everyone else.
“Labor’s plans to fix the housing crisis are not touching the sides. After four years of rapidly increasing house prices and astronomical increases in rents, we urgently need solutions.
“Labor needs to introduce rent caps and invest directly into building good quality homes and renting them to people who need them at prices they can actually afford.”
