The worsening rental crisis in Australia

The final report has been released from the Senate referred inquiry into the worsening rental crisis in Australia.

The inquiry received 410 submissions and has shone a considerable and important spotlight on much needed intervention in the spiralling conditions for renters.

The parliamentary committee produced report released on Thursday, 7 December makes 25 recommendations through the Chair, Senator Janet Rice with a further eight made by Labor Senators Marielle Smith and Louise Pratt.

There were 20 references to Shelter WA’s submission, five references to Shelter WA’s Building Tenancy Skills project, and 35 references to the Make Renting Fair submission (#334 on the inquiry website here).

Boosting Supply

In her recommendation the Chair said the “inquiry shone a light on the extreme neglect of our public and affordable housing system”. “The committee heard overwhelming evidence about how decades of underfunding and privatisation of public housing have left Australia with a massive shortfall in our affordable housing stock and driven low-income renters into the private rental market,” Senator Rice said.

“While the recently legislated Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) is an important step towards increasing our stock of affordable housing, evidence from this inquiry revealed that this investment falls completely short. It is estimated that the unmet national demand for social housing will be around 550,000 dwellings by 2037 — revealing the total inadequacy of the HAFF’s promise of 20,000 homes in five years.

“The Chair is of the firm view that further significant investment in public and genuinely affordable housing is fundamental to fixing the housing crisis.”

Renters Rights

Senator Rice said the committee “heard story after story of renters living in squalid conditions due to a system that fundamentally favours landlords”.

She recommended the Australian Government coordinate with state and territory governments to freeze rental increases for two years, followed by a limit on rental increases of two per cent every two years and to implement measures to make it easier for renters to make minor modifications.

It was also recommended that tenancy laws be amended to strengthen the prohibition on rent bidding, including ensuring that the advertised rent for a property matches the actual rent agreed in the lease.

Retrofit Rebate

In Shelter WA’s Pre-Budget Submission 2023-24 a priority was to ‘Invest in an energy efficiency retrofit program for social housing’. This was referenced in the report, which noted:

“A variety of financial supports were proposed by submitters, such as tax breaks, grants and other funding opportunities. Shelter WA, for instance, suggested an ‘energy efficiency retrofit rebate program for low-income rental properties, including community housing dwellings’ which would offer rebates for:

• upgrading heating and cooling systems to reverse cycle systems;
• heat pumps for hot water;
• insulation;
• draught-sealing; and
• solar panels.”

Minor Modifications

The report examines what can be done to strengthen rental rights, standards and protections. One area of considerable focus is a renters’ ability to make minor modifications.

“The Make Renting Fair Alliance (WA) argued that minor modifications should be allowed to ‘improve safety, liveability and running costs of a home’. Certain minor modifications were said to be necessary for the sake of renters’ health, accessibility needs, and safety,” the report said.

“Shelter WA gave examples of minor modifications that should not require consent from a landlord:

• installing picture hooks;
• installing LED light globes;
• installing child safety gates;
• installing access ramps;
• installing safety rails; and
• fixing furniture to walls.”

The Report

Read the Community Affairs References Committee: The worsening rental crisis in Australia final report here. Recommendations are below.