Thursday, 30 November 2023

 Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (10:03): When residents in my electorate moved into a build-to-rent development in Kerr Street, Fitzroy, they thought they would be there for years. And why wouldn’t they? Labor touts build-to-rent as the stable solution in the rental crisis, as though somehow corporate landlords would act more ethically than individuals. In fact this government love build-to-rent so much that they give developers a 50 per cent land tax break for 30 years and a full exemption from the absentee owner surcharge. But a year since Kerr Street residents moved in, a third of them have either been told to leave for no reason or received rent increases of up to 17 per cent.

Build-to-rent is a classic example of Labor using the housing crisis to funnel public money into developers’ hands when they know that the solution is to regulate the industry and make unlimited rent increases illegal. Until they do, build-to-rent landlords can kick tenants out and raise the rent by however much they like, just like other landlords. The rental inquiry showed that the overwhelming majority of housing experts, organisations and service providers recommended rent controls and stronger protections for renters. Without urgent action, every unfair eviction, every retaliatory rent increase and every meal a renter skips to pay for rent will be on Labor’s hands.