On 25 June, Andi, CSMC’s policy and advocacy coordinator and Jacqui, coordinator of CSMC support services, spoke at the final session of the People’s Commission into the Housing Crisis.
The People’s Commission was convened by Everybody’s Home and was an opportunity for individuals and organisations to contribute to a national conversation about the housing crisis, its impacts and what can be done to fix it.
The session we were in was focused on the policy changes needed to help more Australians get stable, decent homes that they can afford.
In April we had written a submission to the People’s Commission, which you can read here.
In addition to the 15 recommendations in the submission, at the People’s Commission we added these:
1. Housing must be acknowledged as a human right.
- Australia’s commitment to the ICESCR, signed in 1973 and ratified without reservation in 1975, should be signed into domestic legislation in 2025, ideally accompanied by a Charter of Human Rights.
- A bipartisan and whole of government approach to this clear statement of national commitment will ultimately lead both to better decision making and a population safely and suitably housed and able to turn their attention to other aspects of life.
2. The Privacy Act 1988, needs reforming.
The world has changed a lot since 1988 and the digital environment in which we all operate should not be allowed to disadvantage people seeking to exercise such rights as tenancy. The use of AI and algorithms should not, for example, be a way to discriminate through selecting out potential tenants because they are single or have children.
- Clearer definitions and rules about how data is collected, used and stored will ensure fair and safe outcomes for consumers.
- Businesses including banks making loans and real estate agencies requiring such things as online applications will benefit from clear requirements and accountability measures.
3. Improving residential tenancies is key.
Governments can lead cultural shifts in how Australians experience renting, for example with:
- Expectations that leases will be five, ten, or even twenty years.
- Critically & urgently, in all policy improvements such as minimum standards, the onus of proof must be placed on agents and landlords to ensure tenants are not fearful of reprisals such as a rent hike or eviction just for raising a repair request.
- Limits to how often and by how much rents can be raised by need to be in place. “Market value” has become a meaningless term, with property costs being justified solely on location rather than on functionality and quality.
- Greater capacity for tenants to make internal changes, within agreed parameters, to the properties in which they live.
- Strengthening perceptions of value and pride in renting (both for tenants and landlords) and addressing concerns such as the ability to sustain rental accommodation in old age.
- Government purchase of empty housing, along with building more good quality, environmentally sound public housing, will enable greater housing options for essential workers and those on minimum wages and government incomes.
4. Improving housing purchasing, the other side of the equation.
Governments can, and indeed must, lead cultural shifts in how Australian view the purchase of housing particularly in respect to the following:
- Changing the investment structure so that any tax concessions are reserved for investors who agree to have their properties rented exclusively at affordable levels for low-income renters (e.g. those on minimum wages or government incomes).
- Improved initiatives to assist purchasers through identifying and preventing negative outcomes such as price hikes; expanding equity schemes; and identifying means to reduce loan discrimination.
- Developing capital and repair support mechanisms for those who are on a low income and whose houses are in danger of slipping below minimum standards. Women who have left marriages but retained the house and workers who have been injured or become long-term unemployed are examples where support to repair may be a better social and economic investment than allowing further disintegration of wellbeing and productivity. This may be, at least in the first instance, a form of mortgage assistance.
Anyone interested in any of the hearings, including the last one on day 3 when we appeared, can access them here. The Commissioners are aiming to deliver their report in August.
