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AAP
AAP
Business
Marty Silk

Greens want two-year rent freeze in Qld

A Greens proposal to slow residential rent rises in Queensland will be probed by a parliamentary committee.

The party's housing spokeswoman Amy MacMahon on Wednesday tabled a private member's bill that would hold rental prices until August 2024.

The South Brisbane MP's proposal would also cap all rent rises at two per cent every two years after August 2024.

She said the freeze is needed to deal with rents rising three times higher than inflation in some cases.

"Queensland is in a cost of living crisis like we haven't seen in decades, families across Queensland are struggling to make ends meet with rising costs of rent and groceries and it's hitting renters and first homebuyers hardest," Ms MacMahon told parliament.

She nominated the bill to be probed by a parliamentary committee and called for the inquiry to be fast-tracked.

"Queensland renters do not have six months, the families struggling to find somewhere safe, secure and affordable to live right now do not have six months," the Greens MP said.

"The tenants on the verge of eviction, anticipating a rent rise do not have six months."

However, her motion for the bill to be vetted urgently was blocked by Labor government MPs, so the inquiry will take up to six months.

Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch on Tuesday slammed the bill as "poorly thought through" and warned it could further reduce housing supply.

She said the Labor government supported private owners supplying residential properties to the rental market.

"We do not want them to potentially sell off their property as a result of extremist Greens legislation," Ms Enoch told parliament.

Ms MacMahon accused Ms Enoch of prioritising property investors' profits over ensuring families had secure housing.

"The housing system is broken when children grow up in tents while an investor increases their fifth investment property's rent," she said in a statement on Wednesday.

Queensland's housing crisis has left 27,437 households on the social housing register as at June 2, according to state government figures.

A Real Estate Institute of Queensland report last month said rental vacancy rates were "incredibly tight and relative flat" below 1.0 per cent in the June quarter, with a healthy range between 2.6 and 3.5 per cent.

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