The Greens are holding firm on their demands for renters as talks on the multi-billion-dollar housing bill continue.
Crunch time is approaching for the government’s $10 billion housing future fund – due to hit the Senate during the upcoming sitting fortnight – with the Greens laying out where they are willing to compromise and where they plan to dig in.
The $10b will be invested to generate returns that will help subsidise 30,000 affordable homes, with the earnings distributed to housing capped at $500 million a year.
The Greens has been blocking the fund in the hopes of extracting more ambition out of the government.
Greens spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather said the party had already made some concessions and was now waiting on Labor to compromise.
He told ABC News on Monday the party was willing to budge on the total sum that ends up going towards affordable and social housing – a figure it has already halved – but it would need some kind of limitation on rent increases.
The party has been calling for a two-year rent freeze as implemented during the pandemic but Mr Chandler-Mather said it would consider national caps on rent hikes “at the very least”.
Asked if the Greens would let go of the rent control issue in exchange for a bigger payout from the housing fund than the $500m a year, he said the third of the country living in rentals could not be ignored.
“Over the weekend I spoke to a pensioner whose rent had gone up over $200 last lease and he said to me ‘if my rent goes up a single dollar after that, I’m probably going to be living on the streets’,” Mr Chandler-Mather said.
“We need to do something on rents because it’s not sustainable to have unlimited rent increases for the next few years.”
Rents have been surging, with recent CoreLogic data revealing that rents on housing in major capital cities rose nearly 10 per cent in the year to May.
The party’s housing spokesperson said he was prepared to move on the “quantum of funding” going towards affordable and social housing, but the $2.5b on the table – down from $5b – was reasonable in the context of the federal budget.
“I would like to think that actually $2.5 billion is a relatively modest ask in the context of one of the worst housing crises this country has ever seen.”
Housing Minister Julie Collins said on Sunday that negotiations were ongoing and that the fund was not the government’s only response to the issue.
For example, the federal government is enabling the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation to make available an extra $2b from July 1, supporting 7000 new social and affordable homes.
Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie said she would have preferred the Greens to pass the legislation during the last sitting week.
“The only people holding this up are the Greens, quite frankly, they should be disgusted in themselves.”
She said the bill should be passed now so it can be built upon in the future.
The senator said it would take up to two years from now until any homes would be built given the time it takes to get construction projects under way.
– AAP
