A limit of one rent increase a year, nationally consistent minimal rental standards, and changes to harmonise renters’ rights have been agreed to by national cabinet, while calls to implement a two-year freeze on rent increases were rejected.
With Australians facing the worst housing shortage in generations, the new deal was clinched at national cabinet in Brisbane on Wednesday, after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to offer an additional $3 billion sweetener for states and territories if they achieve more than their share of the one million well-located homes target under the National Housing Accord.
The new funding coincides with an increase in the National Housing Accord target ,which has risen to 1.2 million new homes over the next five years, up by an additional 200,000 new homes.
The PM also announced a new blueprint to reform national planning laws which will include measures to cut red tape, fast-tracked property approvals, and change zoning laws.
“These changes will make a tangible impact for the almost one third of Australians who rent.”
But the agreement comes as the government’s main solution to the housing crisis, the $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) which would spend at least $500 million a year on building new affordable housing, remains deadlocked in the Senate.
The new deal between the federal government and the states and territories is likely to be met with fierce opposition from the Greens, who have campaigned at length against the legislation.
Asked whether he was convinced he had done enough to sway the Greens over the line, Mr Albanese said the announcement showed “how serious” state and territory governments across the political spectrum were taking supply issues.
“That’s the key to putting downward pressure and assisting renters in addition to the sensible renters’ rights that we’ve agreed to,” he said.
Pressed further on whether limiting a rent increase to once a year – without setting a cap on how high that raise could be – was good enough for renters, Mr Albanese said the first ministers were united in working together for “greater national consistency” and emphasised that supply was the more pressing issue.
“But we’re not in a position to flick the switch and just change eight pieces of legislation across states and territories immediately,” he said.
“And that’s why we have that position there, which is to move towards the other measures that you’ll see in the renters rights that have been agreed to today.
“What we’re doing is moving towards greater national consistency and making a practical difference.”
Speaking ahead of the meeting, the Greens party’s housing spokesman, Max Chandler-Mather, cautioned that any agreement which didn’t cap rent rises would not resolve the crisis.
“If they really do just lock in limiting rent increases to once every 12 months that is effectively no change for the vast majority of renters in the country,” he told ABC News Breakfast on Wednesday morning.
“That limit is in place everywhere outside the Northern Territory. The reality is that an unlimited rent increase every 12 months is still an unlimited rent increase.
“It would be extraordinary if a bunch of Labor state premiers and prime minister decided they were going to lock in unlimited rent increases at a time when renters are suffering the worst they’ve suffered in generations.
Despite the intervention, Mr Chandler-Mather did not rule out future negotiations on the housing fund, arguing that the Greens’ may continue talks depending on “the details of the announcement today”.
After the Greens sided with the Coalition to veto the housing bill in June, the government reintroduced the HAFF legislation into the House of Representatives in early August, and plans to return it to the upper house in October.
If the Senate fails to pass it again, the bill may act as a trigger for a double dissolution election, sending Australians back to the polls.