No place like home

Hobart’s housing crisis is worse now than it was when the Tasmanian Government called its urgent summit two years ago, explains Ben Bartl

ALMOST two years ago, stories of rocketing rents, people living in cars and worsening homelessness led then premier Will Hodgman to convene “an urgent summit to address Tasmania’s housing shortage” and to “identify practical actions that provide immediate assistance to Tasmanians in need”.

Since then greater Hobart’s acute housing crisis has worsened and rental unaffordability has spread to most areas of Tasmania.

According to the Tasmanian Government’s own data, there are more Tasmanians assessed as in urgent need of accommodation today than two years ago.

And what about the tens of thousands who rent? Just last week, a House of Assembly Select Committee released its report entitled Inquiry into Housing Affordability.

The report, which had tripartisan support, found the Residential Tenancy Act 1997 is “no longer providing adequate protections or rights for tenants and requires a thorough review”. We strongly endorse the need for a review, particularly the call for a review of rent controls.

Each quarter, data provided by the Government’s Rental Deposit Authority is published in Tasmanian Rents and freely available on the Tenants’ Union of Tasmania website. The data demonstrates that in southern Tasmania, which includes the Tasman Peninsula and the Huon Valley as well as greater

Hobart, the median rent has risen more than 30 per cent over the past three years.

To put this into perspective, the Rental Affordability Index, a study published annually by National Shelter and SGS Economics & Planning, concludes in its most recent report that Hobart is now Australia’s least affordable capital city and that tenants in Hobart are spending about 30 per cent of their income on rent, placing the median tenant in rental stress.

And these alarming figures are not confined to Hobart, with the same study finding that regional Tasmania is the most expensive region relative to income in Australia.

And recently, the Mercury reported that rents have increased by 25 per cent in Taroona and 20 per cent in West Moonah in the past year.

Tasmania’s Residential Tenancy Act 1997 has arguably Australia’s worst rent control legislation. Whereas every other Australian jurisdiction requires the rent increase to be assessed against factors such as the general condition of the property, any improvements made to the property and the amount of the increase, in Tasmania this is not the case.

The Residential Tenancy Commissioner, who is tasked with determining unreasonable rent increase cases, has made clear that “the Act does not require or enable me to regulate the market, simply to assess rents in line with what the market is currently achieving”.

Drastic times call for drastic measures. Tasmania’s renters desperately need a rent freeze for 12 months, as has been adopted in Berlin, so that the Government has time to consider appropriate rent control measures.

Examples that could be looked at include Canberra where rents are only increased by CPI and where if the landlord wants to increase the rent by more, the onus is on them to establish why the increase is warranted.

In isolation, a rent freeze will sadly drive more landlords to put their properties on the short-term accommodation market, so any freeze must also see an immediate moratorium on new shortterm accommodation properties, particularly investment properties.

A 12-month rent freeze will provide all Tasmanians with the chance to consider an appropriate rent control measure and to prioritise the right of ordinary people to have a roof over their heads, rather than that of landlords to seek ever higher profits.

THE MEDIAN RENT HAS RISEN MORE THAN 30 PER CENT OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS