Hayley Van de Ven from Bayside RE/MAX shares her thoughts with Redland City News on affordable housing for tenants and the difficulties landlords are experiencing in the current market.
As a local agent on the ground dealing direct with tenants struggling to find local affordable accommodation and landlords having to foot the bill for constant rising cost of investment, we really find ourselves asking where this all went so terribly wrong.
The lack of consultation is probably the first question on my mind, why the government would continue to roll out legislation that takes property out of the market with minimum housing standards being enforced in stages, rental reforms only allowing investors one increase per 12 months when they continue to be slugged with monthly interest rate hikes.
Despite the Real Estate Institute of Queensland petitioning for more consultation, our industry voice seems to fall on deaf ears.
The constant financial pressure on investors to increase rents creates an affordability problem for tenants and puts huge pressure on community organisations who work together with tenants who are at high risk of losing their tenancy due to affordability.
As professional problem solvers in this space we have a few suggestions. Our intention is not to be controversial or political by any means as we really don’t care who fixes the housing crisis – we just want a solution that delivers actual positive outcomes for Redlands tenants and landlords.
Instead of scaring investors with threats of removing negative gearing, we should create incentives for landlords to hold their properties. The majority of investors in the Redlands are local mums and dads who are taking a risk with the hope of building a secure financial future for their families.
Rather than capping rental increases, assisting tenants to bridge the gap with affordability funding keeps more tenants in their properties. All we ask as an industry is that something is done to provide solutions, not just more reactive policy that has zero positive impact on the community.
