The Greens haven’t forgotten Northcote’s renters

Today the Sunday Age featured a story about the problems of housing unaffordability and insecurity facing Victoria’s 1 million renters, describing them as Victoria’s ‘forgotten people’ because of the general lack of interest in their plight shown by successive Liberal and Labor governments. I rent & I vote

Well the Greens haven’t forgotten renters.

The Greens introduced legislation into Parliament only a few months back that would have removed the ability for landlords to evict tenants without giving a lawful reason. And it would have required all rental properties to pass a ‘roadworthy’ – to meet basic standards in relation to repair, comfort, safety, facilities and energy efficiency.

And energy efficiency is the elephant in the room that everyone else is ignoring.

Rising rents are of course a major driver of unaffordability. But with energy prices going through the roof, the other major hit on renters’ cost of living is the poor quality and poor efficiency of their home.

Requiring landlords to make a reasonable investment in low-cost, energy-saving measures like insulation, draught-sealing and low-flow shower-heads would save their tenants hundreds of dollars a year on their bills, and make the house much more comfortable (and safe) to live in, particularly in extreme weather events like heatwaves.

But Labor and the Coalition voted together to defeat our legislation.

In Northcote where house prices are rising exponentially, renting is no longer a temporary situation for young people planning to buy in the future. Thirty seven percent of Northcote households, or nearly 3,500 households rent their homes, compared with 27 percent statewide.

Renters deserve the same opportunity to save money on their energy bills as the thousands of homeowners who are taking advantage of cheap roof-top solar and other efficiency measures to cut their bills by hundreds of dollars a year.

And renters deserve to live in decent, safe and secure accommodation without having to complain to their landlord – and risk eviction.

The Greens have endorsed the One Million Homes plan (backed by a coalition of Victoria’s leading consumer, social justice and environment organisations), which is calling for government to commit to raising the performance of our housing stock to 5-star.

A central plank of the One Million Homes plan would be the introduction of minimum standards at the point of sale or lease, with a mix of other financial incentives to assist landlords and homeowners implement the new standards.

If I am elected to Parliament, I commit to reintroducing the Greens’ minimum standards legislation and getting a fair deal for renters on energy efficiency.

Trent McCarthy