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Daily news…Greens Member for Newtown in the NSW Legislative Assembly, Jenny Leong, is determined to make rental affordability an issue in the March 2023 state election.
By Jackie Pearson
Leong is the NSW Greens Housing Spokesperson and the party’s latest bid to keep the ongoing rental crisis in the headlines is a campaign pledge to introduce a new land tax on high-end residential properties, increase and expand the existing land tax payable on investment properties and abolish the land-tax concessions being handed over to big developers under the cover of ‘build-to-rent’ schemes that don’t deliver affordable housing.
It is unlikely the NSW Greens will win government in NSW next March and the Coalition and Labor both like to remind voters that minority parties are free to make big promises during elections because they won’t be in a position to form government and actually keep those promises.
However, the major parties don’t seem to have a comprehensive answer to how they will deliver more social and affordable housing from the state’s debt-ridden coffers.
The Greens are arguing they will tax the rich to pay for housing for the poor.
“NSW is in the middle of a serious housing crisis and the inequality gap is widening, but instead of addressing this crisis, the Liberals and Nationals continue to provide special treatment and tax breaks for big investors,” the Greens policy announcement said.
“They are also failing to create more public, social and affordable housing. The Greens believe that those who own and live in extremely expensive properties – as well as those who have big property portfolios – should be required to pay their fair share so that the government can make housing affordable for those who are struggling.
“There is a desperate need for more public, social and affordable housing to address the risk of homelessness faced by First Nations people, older women, disabled people and survivors of domestic violence.
“Our ‘Extreme Wealth Property Tax’ will require owners of residential owner-occupied properties with a land value of more than $10 million, or an improved value of more than $20 million, to pay a flat four per cent land tax. The Greens are also committed to increasing the rate of land tax payable above the Premium Threshold by anyone who owns property that is not their principal place of residence from two per cent to five per cent. Additionally, we will expand this tax to include any investor who owns 8 or more residential properties.”
The Greens have also proposed the abolition of the “build-to-rent 50 per cent” land tax concession unless these developments yield at least 30 per cent ongoing social and affordable housing on private land and 100 per cent on publicly owned land.
It is not yet clear how the Liberal-National Government or the NSW Labor Opposition will respond to this pledge from the Greens.
The last news item from Minister for Homes, Anthony Roberts, was a proposal to send flying squads into local government areas to help councils clear backlogs of development applications to deliver new houses faster.
Rose Jackson, as Labor’s Shadow Housing Minister, has been a strong media advocate for relieving the rental crisis but NSW Labor has not yet published the finer details of its policies although cost of living is considered to be one of its major campaign platforms for next year’s election.
Meanwhile, Leong has been rattling the cages of the major parties on the issue of housing affordability consistently throughout 2022. On December 5 she said “rent bidding must be banned alongside genuine protections for renters including ending no grounds evictions, freezing and controlling rents, and banning intrusive rental applications.
“We don’t need an investigation to tell us what we already know – dodgy agents and landlords are exploiting and profiting from the rental crisis. Conversations with people on the street, and endless stories in the news, show us just how bad the power imbalance between renters and their real estate agent or landlords has gotten.
“This is not a new problem and the Liberal Nationals have had 11 years in power to fix the rental crisis, instead they have ignored the renters in their communities and prioritised the interests of investors, real estate agents, and landlords.
“The Greens welcome the government’s focus on banning rent bidding, but let’s not hide under the cover of an investigation when we know it’s a problem right now. Every single day renters are being hit with massive rent increases they’re too fearful to negotiate or treading on eggshells to ask for basic repairs because of the threat of being evicted.”
In November she called for a freeze on rents and an end to unfair, no grounds evictions on the basis that the Annual Rental Affordability Index showed that rental affordability was worse than ever before.
“Politicians cannot continue to sit on their hands and ignore the renters in their community who are being forced to make the difficult choice between rent they can’t afford or eviction. Renting in Sydney is now considered “critically unaffordable” and it’s snowballing into regional communities, as more and more people are driven out of the city and into the regions.
She also called for the government to introduce urgent protections for renters from third party services who are preying on and profiting off the housing crisis. Reports today that third party rental services could be actively facilitating rent bidding, and contributing to the soaring cost of rent, are deeply disturbing,” she said in late November.
Early in November she condemned Labor for voting with the Coalition to block no-cause evictions.
“Just days after committing to ending no grounds evictions, NSW Labor have teamed up with the Liberal National Government to block the Greens bill to end no grounds evictions. Greens and Independent MPs voted in NSW Parliament this afternoon for the Residential Tenancies Amendment (Prohibiting No Grounds Evictions) Bill 2022 to be urgently brought on for debate and voted on before the end of the year.
“NSW Labor are telling renters one thing and doing another by refusing to support a push in Parliament that could end no grounds evictions by Christmas. Labor’s election announcement is cold comfort for renters in this state who will spend the next six months in chronic housing insecurity waiting on an election promise that may never be delivered.”
What you can do
If you live in NSW, find out who your state parliamentarians are. Members of the Legislative Assembly or lower house will be your local representative but there are also Legislative Council members able to influence their party’s policies.
Ask your sitting state member and other candidates running against them next March what their party intends to do about the shortage of affordable housing in NSW. Decide if their position aligns with your own and vote for the candidate who comes closest to offering the solution you think will work best.
