The Greens are holding firm on their demands for renters as talks continue on the federal government’s proposed multibillion-dollar housing fund.
Crunch time is approaching for the government’s $10 billion housing future fund legislation, which is due to hit the Senate during the upcoming sitting fortnight.
The $10 billion would 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 are laying out where they are willing to compromise and where they plan to dig in. The party has been blocking the fund in the hopes of extracting more ambition out of the government.
Greens housing 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 June 12 the Greens were willing to budge on the total sum that ends up going towards affordable and social housing—a figure it has already halved1but 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 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 $500 million a year, he said one-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,’” 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 percent in the year to May.
Chandler-Mather said he was prepared to move on the “quantum of funding” going towards affordable and social housing, but the $2.5 billion on the table—down from $5 billion—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.”
The government asserts it has made concessions with the crossbench and that discussions are ongoing.
Asked if the government would guarantee extra spending on housing to ensure the bill avoids defeat, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government would “do what we can” to accommodate concerns from the crossbench.
“We’ve done a heap of that in the course of recent months, but this can’t go on forever,” he told reporters in Queensland.
“It’s time to put the ambit claims and the political games behind us, it’s time for the Greens to actually vote for more social and affordable housing and not just say that they believe in it,” he said.
He also said the fund was not the government’s only response to the issue.
For example, the federal government has opened up more funding to the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation for 7,000 new social and affordable homes.
