The Greens' Rental Freeze is completely stupid

The Greens Party has called for a rent freeze for two years and a cap on price increases once the suspension lapses.

It is clear the Greens do not have an understanding of the current housing crisis issue, as policies like this are guaranteed to put people on the streets.

The Greens’ political game-playing is not the kind of constructive contribution we need. Instead, they are driving an insidious wedge and creating an ‘us and them’ mentality between property owners and tenants.

A big part of the solution to this rental crisis is investment property owners, and the more you do to limit them in the market, the more they will sell their rental properties…meaning even fewer homes to rent and more people homeless.

The proposal is nothing short of stupid and it is time for the Greens party to put down its political narrative that seeks to draw attention and pick up solutions that will actually help people.

The way we make life easier for tenants is to give them more choice – supply is the ONLY solution to this crisis, and the people who will do the vast majority of the heavy lifting to deliver that supply are property investors.

These investors are often everyday mums and dads who are trying to secure their future because they do not trust the government to support them in retirement. The same ones who pay higher rates, higher taxes and higher interest rates.

We need everyone to look at rental properties the same way we currently look at lettuce.

Everyone complained when the price of lettuce went up to unheard-of prices but the solution was not to put a cap on lettuce pricing and punish the farmers. That would mean they would not have had the capacity to plant more lettuce or recover from the floods. Essentially, we need investors to plant more properties.

As the housing crisis worsens, the region will continue to lose skilled staff resulting in closed businesses and fewer professional services.

This is a humanitarian crisis that is rapidly becoming an economic one and that is a dangerous spiral.

This crisis demands politicians stop playing politics and start learning the actual causes and act on real solutions.