Merry Christmas and happy new year! In huge news this month we welcome a new Minister and a new principal supporter!
In the recent cabinet reshuffle, Minister Sue Ellery has taken responsibility for Commerce, Women’s Interests and Finance. As luck would have it, just prior to this appointment we had a meeting with the Minister to brief her on our campaign, and we look forward to working with her closely on these important reforms and delivering the Tenancy Ten.
Our campaign continues to strongly advocate to the State Government to make renting fair in WA. Representatives from Circle Green, Shelter WA, Anglicare and WACOSS have been meeting with a number of meetings with MPs and their advisers over the past month. In all meetings, the work of the campaign has been received very positively, with many MPs expressing support for our key asks.
We welcomed the Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia joining the Make Renting Fair alliance as a principal supporter, and thank them for their amazing support and work.
The dire and worsening situation for WA renters continues to receive strong coverage in the media as more articles revealed the pressures renters were facing – while a compelling new study showed that Landlords sell to reap capital gains, not avoid rental reforms: contrary to the narrative being pushed by the real estate industry, with the study finding:
“Tenancy law reforms were at the bottom of the list of reasons why investors sold their properties, research by the Australia Housing and Urban Research Institute found. The research also found no evidence of tenancy reforms in NSW in 2010 affecting the supply of rental properties in the state. The same number of rentals were added to the private rental sector after the changes as the previous trend, and ever fewer than expected exited.”
We’ve continued to share the experiences of renters from our Make Renting Fair 2022 survey, compiling these on our website and sharing across social media, to highlight the experiences of those at the forefront of the rental crisis.
In particular, we’ve been working closely with renter Norelle Robinson who received a letter terminating her agreement after speaking to the media and sharing her experience about the condition of her rental. You can read more about Norelle’s story and experience here.
At the same time we’ve been using our supporter database to encourage supporters to share and complete the survey, attend the Renting With Confidence workshops, share the lived experience of renters and the stories we’ve been telling, and send a Christmas Card to their MP outlining their wishes for a an end to no grounds evictions, a minimum standard for renters and to stabilise rents.
Wondering how you can support this incredible campaign?
Here are four things you can do right now to support us:
- Please consider joining the Alliance formally!
We would love to grow the number of organisations supporting Make Renting Fair. Drop a line to chantal@shelterwa.org.au to find out more. - Share our Renters Survey with your staff, clients and members and help us reach 1,000 renters!
It takes 10 minutes and will help us provide the most compelling evidence for long overdue changes to our tenancy laws. Take the survey here. - Help us share the stories and lived experience of renters.
Do you know or work with someone who’s had a had a negative experience of renting and would like to share their story with us? You can share this page with them or share this link: https://makerentingfairwa.org.au/renters-stories/#share-your-story - Share a short video on why you support the campaign to Make Renting Fair
We’d love to feature your organisation on our facebook page, as a short video on why you support the campaign and the vital services you provide. Would anyone from your organisation like to share what you’re seeing directly in your work with renters, who are facing unprecedented stress, insecurity, debt and even homelessness?
Wishing you a happy new year. 2023 is a good year to make renting fair.