Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Committee inquiry into the rental crisis

The rental crisis does not exist in isolation of the housing system – we are in a housing crisis. Its
manifestations in the private rental market are inextricably linked from the problems created by
government across a range of tenure types. These policy choices create homelessness, stigmatise
and degrade public housing, cause people to live in overcrowded conditions, rob people of
independence, leave low income tenants particularly vulnerable to landlords who do not uphold
legal standards and trap people on higher incomes in the private rental market, often paying enough to cover a mortgage but unable to save a deposit.