Wednesday, 16 August 2023

 Sam HIBBINS (Prahran) (09:52): I rise to urge an end to unlimited rent rises here in Victoria, including in my electorate of Prahran. I want to share with the house some of the stories that I am hearing from Prahran renters who are struggling with the skyrocketing cost of housing. From a resident in St Kilda Road:

… it feels like I can never get anywhere I am not able to save anything I’m living paycheck to paycheck and my rent is so high it takes almost both of my monthly earnings to pay it. I’m left with so little to pay bills and to afford food. It’s been so relentless that my mental health has suffered extremely.

Another resident in St Kilda said:

All my family live interstate, I can’t afford to take time off work or the cost of travel fees to try to see them even when there have been health issues because I can’t afford to pay my rent and take leave from work at the same time

Another resident in St Kilda East said:

It’s dehumanizing in a lot of aspects. Many rental properties are run down and the cost of rent is expensive. I’ve often faced near homelessness from financial precarity because of the systemic poverty that the current rental system places me in. I doubt I will ever be able to escape the rent trap.

There are around 60 per cent of residents in Prahran renting their homes. The housing crisis is pushing people to the brink of homelessness, making people’s mental health worse and reducing their quality of life. I urge the state government to put an immediate freeze on rent increases and put in long-term rent controls to make sure everyone has a safe and affordable place to call home.