Greens gear up for fight over Labor’s housing statement

The biggest shake-up to Victoria’s housing policy in decades could face an uphill battle in the upper house should Labor offer “weak” protections for renters and not enough social and affordable homes, the Greens warn.

It comes as the minor party revealed its wishlist for the state government’s upcoming housing statement on Monday morning.

Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam campaigning during the recent Warrandyte byelection. Credit: Luis Ascui

The Greens are seeking a two-year rent freeze – followed by a cap on rental increases – as well as short-stay regulations, inclusionary zoning reforms, a strengthened vacancy tax and a new public builder.

As The Age reported earlier this month, the Andrews government has abandoned a plan to put a financial cap on rental increases after concluding the measure would have the unintended consequence of deterring investment in new housing. In most cases, Victorian landlords are already forbidden from hiking rents more than once every 12 months.

But Greens leader Samantha Ratnam has urged the government to keep all reforms on the table as part of future negotiations, including limiting rental increases to once every two years. She did not rule out blocking Labor’s housing bill should the suite of reforms not go far enough.

“We are not going to give a free pass to another package of reforms that caves in to property developers while people continue to experience housing stress,” she said.

“We are going to reserve our position. [The housing statement] can’t be the weak kind of policy we’ve seen from this government for years. It can’t be more of the same. Our bottom line is, it has to have a meaningful impact on the supply side, on the rental side.”

Given Labor only has 15 seats in Victoria’s 40-member upper house, Ratnam said it was important the Andrews government listen to her party’s concerns.

“It’s really important that the government pays attention to the stress renters are experiencing,” she said. “They’ve long been forgotten. This is our opportunity to get it right.”

The Greens leader added that she was sceptical of the need to strip councils of planning powers in order to speed up approval times for new housing.

“The Greens believe we can increase the right type of supply through mechanisms like inclusionary zoning without stripping council powers away. We believe it can be done. You can achieve that supply without the cost of the community having a say.”

The property industry has long accused local government of stymying housing supply. However, councils insist they process the overwhelming majority of applications for apartment buildings within the legislated timeframe.

Premier Daniel Andrews has also suggested that trusting “part-time” local councillors with significant planning decisions, such as rezoning, is risky, given the large sums of money involved.

The state government is expected to hand down its housing statement next month.

Cabinet minister Ben Carroll said on Monday it would be “very silly” for the Greens to block the government’s housing agenda.

“We know we have a crisis in housing affordability,” he said. “We know we have a crisis in supply. And we need to do everything we can to free up supply, free up construction and get on with the job. So that would be very silly of them.”

The Coalition’s homeownership and housing affordability spokeswoman, Jess Wilson, said rent caps or freezes were not the answer.

“Labor’s overdue housing statement must address the fundamental drivers of Victoria’s housing affordability crisis – Victoria’s nation-leading property taxes, the mismanagement of our residential construction sector and a planning system which is failing to keep pace with demand,” she said.

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