Tenants’ Union puts rental crisis at the heart of the National Housing and Homelessness Plan

Jemima Mowbray, policy and advocacy manager at the TUNSW, hopes the National Plan for Housing and Homelessness “sets out a shared national vision, one that images – and clearly sets a path towards – a housing system that will end homelessness and ensure everyone has access to a ‘good home.’”

“For those who rent their homes, our housing system is failing,” she said. “In large part this is because there is no general agreement about the importance of ensuring the system delivers safe, stable and affordable housing.”

“This national plan represents an opportunity to move towards a general consensus.”

In a similar vein to the Commonwealth’s Law and Poverty Inquiry of the 1970s, which largely designed the framework for tenancy regulation, the plan represents a chance for the federal government to “lead a modern reset to achieve the goals of ensuring everyone in our community has a safe, stable and affordable home”.

Ms Mowbray believes: “As with all essential services, the government has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring the sector, however structured, is performing the function. It can choose to do this in a number of ways, from direct provision of service to market regulation.”

In the eyes of the TUNSW, if the housing system is going to continue relying on private investment for the supply of housing, providing subsidies and incentives to draw investors in, then there needs to be “clearly set out basic expectations about the obligations that come with such an investment”.

“Government can play a market shaping rather than a market responsive role, but must take on a leadership role, putting in place interventions and framework for public good,” Ms Mowbray explained.

She concluded: “A new approach for governments in relation to setting expectations of the sector is needed to ensure access to this most essential of services.”

The TUNSW’s submission follows the one made by the Real Estate Institute of Australia, which called on the plan to implement “big picture reform”.

TUNSW’s recommendations

The 18 recommendations made in the TUNSW’s submission to the National Plan for Housing and Homelessness are:

- Recommendation one: The plan’s vision, goals and objective aim to achieve tenure neutrality in relation to people’s experience and autonomy regarding their housing, as well as financial outcomes.

- Recommendation two: The plan ensures states and territories implement the TUNSW’s “nine principles for strengthening renters’ rights” and measure progress towards these.

- Recommendation three: The plan recognises the negative consequences of eviction, working with states and territories to develop and implement more effective hardship frameworks with tenancy laws to support renters experiencing hardship.

- Recommendation four: Calling on the plan to require adequate funding and resourcing of tenancy advice, advocacy and support services are part of its coordination and planning for early intervention and support of people at risk of homelessness.

- Recommendation five: The plan introduces a clear and effective strategy to improve community housing providers’ policy and practice regarding financial inclusion and sustaining tenancies.

- Recommendation six: The plan improves transparency in relation to social and affordable housing supply by providing public access to appropriate metrics and information.

- Recommendation seven: Calls on the plan to require targets in relation to tenant participation in governance and general organisational decision making to be built into the regulatory framework for community housing providers.

- Recommendation eight: The plan establishes an agreed measure of housing need, which can better account for housing need within the community. TUNSW said this should guide planning and developing a long-term program to increase new social housing supply.

- Recommendation nine: The plan applies an expanded understanding of housing affordability which draws on a broader range of measures or methodologies.

- Recommendation 10: The plan recognises market-led supply alone will not deliver the housing required to address current affordability concerns. It added calls for the potential impacts and costs of using market-led supply to be taken into account to ensure serious consideration of alternative and/or contemporary interventions.

- Recommendation 11: Calls on the plan to set coordinated and ambitious goals which aim to meet a target of at least 10 per cent of all housing to be public or community housing by 2036.

- Recommendation 12: Asks the plan to design and implement an alternative funding model that separates the funding required to meet the day-to-day operational costs, and the source of funds for growth.

- Recommendation 13: Urges the plan to ensure current strategies and trajectory efforts incorporate the recommendations made in the Healthy Homes for Renters’ Community Sector Blueprint for implementing a National Framework for Minimum Energy Efficiency Rental Requirements.

- Recommendation 14: The plan sets clear target time frames from all jurisdictions to implement the new minimum accessibility standards of the National Construction Code and meet target numbers regarding delivery of homes across all areas.

- Recommendation 15: The plan establishes clear and ambitious targets and guidelines regarding the percentage of LHD Gold Standard dwellings in all new social housing developments appropriate to each jurisdiction.

- Recommendation 16: The plan utilises wellbeing metrics when developing, to assist in setting goals and objectives, as well as in evaluating the efficacy of interventions.

- Recommendation 17: The plan sets ambitious targets against relevant precarious housing and quality metrics to reduce precarious housing and improve the quality and liveability of rental homes.

- Recommendation 18: The plan considers all aspects of the housing system, including taxation, wages, welfare and income support, as well as regulation of banking and financial institutions.