Rental advocate Jordan van den Lamb, aka Purplepingers, starts controversial ‘empty homes crime scene’ campaign
A controversial social media star who encouraged people to squat in vacant properties has come under fire for his ‘empty homes crime scene’ political campaign, which he’s hoping will go national.
Social media agitator and rental advocate Jordan van den Lamb, aka Purplepingers, has been slammed for plastering empty Melbourne homes with stickers identifying them as vacant.
Mr van den Lamb, who will stand as a Victorian Socialists’ candidate in the upcoming federal election, is encouraging supporters to put the “Empty homes crime scene” campaign stickers on residences that have been unlived in for an extended period, to raise awareness of the housing crisis.
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Part of the stickers’ fine print reads: “Please do not post this sticker. That would be illegal. Unlike this property being empty which is perfectly legal even when there are thousands of people in Victoria who don’t have anywhere to live.”
And Mr Lamb, who founded the S**t Rentals website, said he was hoping the movement goes national and is taken up by people in Australia’s other capital cities.
However, real estate industry figures have criticised the campaign, warning it could potentially encourage break-ins at targeted homes.
Mr van den Lamb – who boasts hundreds of thousands of followers on online platforms including Instagram and TikTok under his Purplepingers account – was also blasted earlier this year when he shared a video which some commentators worried would encourage squatters.
Real Estate Buyers Agent Association of Australia president Melinda Jennison said that while it was great to be drawing attention to the housing crisis, the ‘empty homes crime scene’ approach raised some concerns.
“I believe a campaign like this could inadvertently encourage unintended consequences like trespassing and break-ins,” Ms Jennison said.
“Regardless of the condition of a property, we don’t want to encourage crime.”
She also said there was a risk the campaign could accidentally miss-identify a home as vacant, when it was actually occupied, but that it was understandable people felt frustrated to see abodes standing empty in the midst of a rental crisis.
Ms Jennison said it was important for all government levels, property industry professionals and the community to come together and identify solutions to the housing crisis.
“I definitely feel there are some red flags in this (Mr van den Lamb’s) approach, which is quite extremist – rather than an approach which is collaborative,” she said.
The Real Estate Institute of Australia president Leanne Pilkington described the campaign as “irresponsible” although she said it was important to address the housing crisis.
“It’s all very well to draw attention to it, but let’s find a solution,” Ms Pilkington said.
“Why are these houses vacant and what is it we can do to encourage the owners of these houses to rent them out?”
On the weekend, Mr van den Lamb and a group of supporters put stickers on about 40 vacant Brunswick homes and they’re planning a similar future event for Footscray.
He said all the members of the public who saw the group distributing stickers in Brunswick were in favour of the idea, including one resident living next to three houses that had stood vacant for years.
Mr van den Lamb is calling on Melburnians to identify empty homes in their area and put stickers on these properties.
“I’d say it’s not us encouraging break-ins, it’s property owners leaving properties vacant for decades that’s encouraging people to break-in,” Mr van den Lamb said.
He added that he would urge people thinking of squatting in an empty home to “remove the stickers and move in”.
Mr van den Lamb said he was hoping the campaign would spread interstate.
In addition, he is in the early stages of setting up a network of people in every capital city to make videos and advocate for renter’s rights, much like he does.
Ahead of the next federal election, which has no set date as yet, the Victorian Socialists have announced they want to double the land tax on properties left vacant for more than six months of the year.
The policy would see properties seized for use as public housing if they remain vacant for more than 12 months without a good reason.
A recent Prosper Australia report, which analysed properties’ water use, estimated there were close to 100,000 vacant homes in Melbourne in 2023.
“In a wealthy society like Australia, no-one should struggle just to keep a roof over their head, particularly when on any given night there’s hundreds of thousands of homes sitting empty,” Mr van den Lamb said.
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Originally published as Rental advocate Jordan van den Lamb, aka Purplepingers, starts controversial ‘empty homes crime scene’ campaign
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