Who is using the Tribunal and why?
New data analysis by the Tenants' Union of NSW
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The Tenants' Union is always working to better understand what is happening for NSW renters. Recently we requested and received data from the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) about the lodgements of their tenancy and social housing lists over the past financial year (July 2021 – June 2022). The data covered more than 53,000 applications.
Our Data and Research Officer, Jack Moon, analysed the data with a focus on two questions: Who is taking action? And about what? Key findings were:
- Landlords use the Tribunal much more than renters. In private rental, 70% of applications are made by the landlord. In social housing it's 90%.
- Eviction applications are the primary type of applications.
- Renters in Western Sydney are disproportionally impacted.
It may surprise some, but the data clearly shows that the Tribunal is primarily used by landlords, and they use it to seek eviction. And social housing landlords apply to evict renters three times more often than in private rental.
When we added in the postcode data provided to us, we could also see where evictions in the private rental market are happening. We have generated an interactive map showing eviction applications for the private rental market across NSW. The map displays the number of evictions per 100 rentals in each LGA, and clearly reveals that Western Sydney is disproportionately affected.
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Our new analysis was also reported in the Sydney Morning Herald.
"NSW landlords are far more likely to take legal action against tenants than the other way around, and the rate of eviction applications is many times higher in Sydney’s west and south-west, new data shows." –
Tribunal data shows eviction applications much higher in Sydney’s west.
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Healthy Homes – Parliament Briefing
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Last week we provided a briefing at NSW Parliament on Healthy Homes for Renters, together with Make Renting Fair, Better Renting, Sweltering Cities and other allies. A diverse cross section of Members of Parliament attended.
The briefing focused on the need for energy efficiency standards in rentals and renters’ current experience of unhealthy homes in NSW. Tenants' Union Policy and Advocacy Manager, Jemima Mowbray, spoke about the issues renters face, the connection with the threat of a no-grounds eviction, and her personal experience renting in Sydney with a young baby:
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"When we put our bub to sleep in the room at our new place with a heater on, the room was a perfect 18 degrees. At two am, first night in our new home, the baby monitor starts shrieking. An alarm had gone off. My 9 month old baby's room was a terrifying 11 degrees. That small room that had been advertised as a bedroom, had no insulation, no draught proofing, a tin roof. It was freezing. Even with the heater we’d left on."
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The climate isn't going to wait
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The need for minimum habitability standards in housing is even more urgent in the context of climate change. Extreme weather already endangers 1.6 million homes in Australia (SMH) – a number which will only grow. Right now, floods are again wreaking destruction, and mould is making life miserable for so many. At the Parliamentary briefing Sarah, a long term renter, shared her story of living in a mouldy, poorly insulated home with her family, but not feeling able to do anything about it: The insecurity and uncertainty of renting: 'A constant exercise in weighing up options' (Tenants' Union blog).
Disasters also increase housing stress and homelessness. A new report by NCOSS, Aftershock – two and a half years of a pandemic, fire and floods looks at Housing Security. The report found a 10% increase in homelessness in NSW since the start of the pandemic, and more people seeking assistance from housing services (with close to 50% being turned away). 54,000 households have also entered or experienced worsening housing stress.
We urgently need to improve housing standards, protect renters from unfair evictions, and expand the availability of affordable and social housing.
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Easy Read factsheets
We are pleased to announce a set of 5 new factsheets in Easy Read. Easy Read is a way to present information for people with low literacy or learning disability. It can also be useful for speakers of other languages if resources are not available in their preferred language. To develop these factsheets, we worked with the Council for Intellectual Disability.
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New podcasts
The last two episodes in our podcast series with Legal Aid, Renting Matters, focus on tenants facing additional barriers. Part 1 looks at issues international students face. Part 2 will explore the experiences of renters with disability.
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We have also recently released several episodes in our new self-published Renting Bytes podcast series:
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Rent Tracker tools
Our new and improved Rent Tracker tools continue to be heavily used in the current crisis. Page views have surged to over 16,000 in the last 3 months.
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Please use them and share them with renters who need them!
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How to solve the housing crisis?
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Leo Patterson Ross, Tenants' Union CEO, talks interest rates, rent increases, evictions, housing supply, and regulation, on ABC News (5 minutes).
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As the rental crisis continues, every day brings new horror stories: extreme rent increases, mouldy and uninhabitable homes, evictions, lack of homes, and growing homelessness. Many renters face impossible choices daily. Tenant Advocates are working hard to help, but are stretched far beyond capacity.
The housing situation is dire, but it is not insurmountable. Many commentators are calling to cap rent increases (9 News). In the context of a substantial increase in providing advice for no-grounds evictions across regional NSW, our colleagues from VERTO Tenants' Advice and Advocacy Service (Central Western Daily), highlight the NSW Greens' renewed push to end no-grounds evictions (AAP) before NSW Parliament wraps up in early November. Meanwhile the ACT Government is progressing their reforms to scrap no-grounds evictions (ABC News). In the UK the PM recently reassured British renters that government plans to ban no-grounds evictions would go ahead (BBC). And in Scotland, the government has recently enacted a rent freeze and a ban on winter evictions (The Guardian) – the result of a large, coordinated renters campaign (Bella Caledonia). With cost of living and rental housing pressures building, it is time for the NSW Government to take action.
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Citizens' Assemblies: an avenue for fair rental reform?
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At the moment those with the greatest input into the process of government decision-making are Members of Parliament. MPs are supposed to represent the broader community, but according to the Registers of Disclosures, up to 48% of NSW MPs are landlords – far more than in the general community.
If we want to see fair rental reform, maybe we need to reconsider the decision-making process and who and how community is able to participate in this. Citizens’ Assemblies bring a mix of people together by democratic lottery and give them the tools, information and time to properly have a say on the important issues that affect our lives. Citizens' Assemblies are increasingly being explored in other jurisdictions as an avenue to achieve fair and sensible legislative reform across a wide range of issues – including renting. How could they be applied here to improve renting in NSW? Riley Brooke and Robert Mowbray, of the Tenants' Union Policy team, explore these ideas on our blog.
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Increased government investment needed
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One thing is certain: we need more government investment in public and community housing (also known as social housing) in order to address the crises we face. Unfortunately instead we have chronic undersupply and poor quality – e.g. renters in social housing face some of the worst winter underheating, summer overheating, and mould (Medical Express). You can hear directly from renters in social housing about their experiences in our recent podcast Nothing private about this house (Renting Matters podcast).
Opportunities to address these problems are being missed. The NSW Government's proposed redevelopment in Redfern North Eveleigh of the Paint Shop Sub-Precinct sadly only commits to 15% affordable and social housing. In our recent submission we call for this to be increased to at least 25%. Similarly, as the NSW Government moves to implement its decision to redevelop the Waterloo Estate, the social objectives claimed for the redevelopment become a focus. In a guest piece on our blog Dr Alistair Sisson, examines the government's claims about the social objectives of estate renewal, and finds several of the claims contentious.
There are positive signs in the form of the Federal Government's national housing and homelessness plan and its moves to involve super funds (ABC). However, we must remember that the market has failed to give Australians affordable housing, so don’t expect it to solve the crisis (The Conversation). In the lead-up to the Federal Budget, the Everybody's Home campaign has has released a Budget Position Paper calling on the Government to invest in 25,000 social and affordable rentals a year and a petition calling on Treasurer Jim Chalmers to invest in social housing and increase Commonwealth Rent Assistance by at least 50%.
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Meanwhile in WA, John Abraham, Noongar man and renter, is boldy taking a racial discrimination complaint all the way to the Human Rights Commission (ABC News). The housing department appears to be using fixed-term leases and no-grounds evictions disproportionately with Aboriginal renters.
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Evicted! A Modern Romance
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Our screening of the comedy Evicted last month went really well! Thanks to everyone who came! Screenings are coming up in Brisbane and regional NSW.
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Help the Tenants' Union continue our work for tenants...
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