Greens Leader Adam Bandt and Senator Mehreen Faruqi discuss the housing crisis, and the looming debt crisis if tenants are forced to repay 6 months rent after the shut down is over.

In response to today’s announcement by the NSW Government outlining an eviction moratorium for NSW renters and other measures, Jenny Leong MP, NSW Greens spokesperson on Housing welcomed the much needed protection put in place through an eviction moratorium and increased funding for tenant support, but questioned whether the money allocated to the package will actually assist in reducing rents at this time.

Jenny Leong MP said:

“This moratorium on evictions in NSW, including protection from being blacklisted, will provide crucial protection for those who have been living with the stress of being evicted into homelessness because they can’t pay their rent.

Jenny Leong MP, NSW Greens spokesperson on Housing and Homelessness is urging the Premier to put an immediate moratorium on evictions for people unable to pay rent during the Corona virus pandemic, as well as recommending a number of urgent measures to assist people who are homeless and those living in public and social housing.

NSW Greens Housing and Homelessness spokesperson Jenny Leong MP, Member for Newtown has responded to the Liberal's homelessness announcement today by questioning the priorities of the Premier and highlighting the hypocrisy of the Minister for Family and Community Services.

“While setting targets is welcome, the targets announced by the Liberals today would amount to housing fewer than 5 people every week across the whole state! Surely we can do better than that.

The Aboriginal Housing Company has submitted modified plans for the Pemulwuy Project which includes aboriginal affordable housing and student housing on The Block. These plans and the submissions regarding this new proposal are currently being reviewed by the Independent Planning Commission and you can find details here.

Congratulations to all the incredible volunteers at the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre who were honored last week at the Newtopian Outreachers – Thank You & Community Celebration. 

Housing has become unaffordable for many people living all over Sydney.

I was happy to speak recently on behalf of the NSW Greens at the large community affordable housing forum, "We All Need a Home" in Parramatta which was presented by a group of community advocacy organisations. 

The panel of local, state and federal politicians and housing experts heard from local residents about how hard it is to make ends meet when the rents are so high and the lack of security of tenure means people are forced to move regularly, adding large additional costs and dislocation them from their community. 

We know that a very large percentage of people living in Parramatta are renting - over 6,000 according to the Census which is 68% of residents. The mean unit rent is about $500 per week and house prices have skyrocketed with the mean sales price for a home now over $900,000. These statistics mean that housing is just simply unaffordable for a significantly large proportion of people in Parramatta. 

The Greens are committed working with community groups to push housing reforms in the NSW parliament which include giving all councils in NSW the right to prepare affordable housing contribution schemes for specific precincts, areas or developments within their local government areas. Inclusionary zoning is an crucial step to actually providing affordable homes and not just facilitating the construction of investment properties. 

We will also keep advocating for key reforms to the Residential Tenancies Act including the call to abolish no grounds evictions as well as changing state legislation so that annual rent rises are pegged to the CPI.

While we have seen some positive changes to renters rights this year as a result of our lobbying and that of many peak housing groups, there's still plenty more to be done.

October 2018  - South Sydney Herald column

There’s a lot going on right now in our local community when it comes to infrastructure, but not in a good way! The NSW Liberals and their big business mates seem hell bent on taking all they can from our neighbourhoods, and much less interested in giving us anything we actually need in return.

Our community is vibrant, caring and creative. We value our public housing, our public schools, our public parks, our public transport. We recognise the need for significant investment in public services, including healthcare – and especially mental health support. We know that to end the housing crisis we will need to invest in more public, social and affordable housing. We know that privatisation and leaving it to the market doesn’t lead to better outcomes or address inequality.

Jenny Leong MP, Member for Newtown has responded to changes to Strata Laws in NSW.