Rent freeze needed to save $4.9bn, says Greens

The federal Greens party has found renters have already “forked out over $3 billion dollars” and will “lose another $4.9 billion” unless the Albanese government takes action and implements a rent freeze.

The Greens said research conducted by the Parliamentary Library found that a rent freeze starting in July 2022 would have saved renters “over $3 billion in the last 12 months alone”.

The party said that with rents predicted by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to rise another 10 per cent over the next year, the analysis found that “renters will be in for another $4.9 billion in increases over the next year, totalling an estimated $8.06 billion in increases over the next two years”.

The Greens championed the data from the Parliamentary Library following its public call for the Albanese government to immediately implement rent freezes if it was to support the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) bill.

Based on the RBA’s projected future rent increases, the Greens said a rent freeze implemented this year “could save the average household $2,261”.

Rent caps to help renters and inflation

Greens spokesperson for housing and homelessness Max Chandler-Mather said the government needed to take action, with money not an issue, as “property investors will get $39 billion this year alone in tax concessions, so it seems only fair that renters get some relief when they’ve just copped the largest quarterly rent increases in 35 years”.

Mr Chandler-Mather said: “These aren’t just numbers, a two-year saving of $3,688 per household is food on the table, a desperately needed trip to the dentist or it’s the electricity bills for two years.

“The Prime Minister has an historic opportunity to save the one-third of this country who rents $4.9 billion over the next 12 months by putting $1 billion on the national cabinet table to coordinate a national freeze on rent increases and ongoing caps,” he added.

Mr Chandler-Mather also said a rent freeze would help the inflation softening process.

He said: “Rents are now one of the key drivers of inflation, so freezing rents for two years could have not only put close to $4,000 in the pockets of renters but help control inflation at the same time.

“At a time when people are counting every dollar, this would be a lifesaving cost of living measure.

“If decisive action was taken by the federal government when we first saw cost-of-living increases being unfairly passed onto renters then renters would have saved on average $3,688 over the two-year period and inflation would be lower,” Mr Chandler-Mather declared.

Rent caps and the HAFF bill

When the Greens initially declared they would only vote in favour of the HAFF if “Labor acts on soaring rents at national cabinet”, Prime Minister Albanese vehemently ruled it out and likened it to “abolishing” the states.

Mr Albanese said: “The Greens say we’ll vote for your bill as long as you abolish the states, or in some cases, abolish the private housing market. We’re not doing that.

“Australia deserves better and they need to put aside the politics and put aside the posturing and pass this legislation,” he said.

When the HAFF bill was introduced into Parliament for the second time last week, Minister for Housing Julie Collins called on those, including the Greens, who previously opposed the bill to back it and support “housing for all Australians”.

“We invite those who stood opposite us in this place or stood outside to stand with us now to deliver that safety and security a home provides, to stand with the states and territories and community housing providers who are ready to hit the ground running with the funding this bill will provide for more homes,” Ms Collins said.

“To stand with the homelessness service providers, who are seeing more people come through the doors in need of homes, because the only way we’re going to tackle the housing challenges we face is if we stand together.”

[Related: Housing bill reintroduced as threat of double dissolution grows]