A proposed rent freeze from the Greens would seek to close a loophole allowing landlords to start a bidding war between prospective tenants.
In an open letter to the nation’s housing ministers, the party is calling for a two-year freeze followed by 2 per cent caps on rent increases, and an end to no-grounds evictions.
The Greens say rent caps should apply to the property, not just to individual leases to ensure tenants do not face eviction so their landlords can hike the rent.
The party will introduce their proposal to parliament during budget week.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has chastised the Greens for withholding support for the government’s signature housing investment fund.
The housing fund, which is yet to pass the Senate, will leverage $10 billion and invest the profits up to $500 million each year into housing.
“What we will see in the budget is there is substantial upward pressure on rents. Vacancy rates are low, rents are growing faster than we would like,” he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.
“It’s a $10 billion fund from which the income stream will build thousands of new social and affordable properties.
“It beggars belief that with a $10 billion fund on the table, the Greens, the Liberals and the Nationals are indicating they want to vote against that.”
The opposition says it won’t support the housing fund as it would only add to inflation and push up interest rates due to the amount of money that would need to be borrowed to float it.
Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said housing ministers needed to come up with a way to tackle pressures across Australia without adding to inflation.
“When there’s a scarcity of housing and there’s a rental crisis, there’s some urgency for the government to come up with a policy that is going to house these huge number of migrants were expecting to come into the country,” she told AAP.
“Infrastructure is being cut. Having an increased migration intake but a decreased amount of infrastructure to support that migration on top of the housing crisis, that’s a recipe for disaster.”
Housing Minister Julie Collins will meet her state and territory counterparts in Canberra on Wednesday, where they will discuss pathways to strengthening renters’ rights.
Ms Collins urged the coalition and cross bench to support the government’s fund.
Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather said “the ball is firmly in Labor’s court”.
“If they can find money for submarines and stadiums, they can find money to take the housing crisis seriously by freezing rent increases and building more public and affordable housing.”
– AAP
