A petition calling on the Gold Coast Council to impose a two-year rent freeze was delivered to Liberal Councillor Brooke Patterson on November 21. More than 30 people joined the action in Carey Park to hand it over.
The petition was initiated by the Queensland Greens and signed by more than 300 people. It is believed to be the largest petition ever to go to the Gold Coast Council. But Patterson did not show up to receive the petition.
The protest was jointly organised by the Greens Surfers Paradise branch, Socialist Alliance Brisbane, South East Queensland Union of Renters and Renters and Housing Union.
Representatives of each group spoke. Grassroots housing justice organisation House You was also present.
Braden Smith, a Greens organiser, said the council should also take any other action needed to ensure rental affordability in the Gold Coast Council area.
Rent prices have risen drastically over the past couple of years. The commodification of housing has meant that houses are being used as speculative assets, rather than their original purpose as places for people to live in.
The has led to exorbitant housing costs and rentals, which have priced out lower income earners.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, landlords are land banking more than 1 million homes. This, in turn, has left more than 122,000 people without homes and is pricing out more.
As home ownership costs rise, more people than ever are being forced to rent. Landlords have and will continue to push rent prices up. There needs to be urgent state and federal regulation governing rent rises and land-banked homes.
Jonathan Sriranganathan, Greens candidate for mayor in the last Brisbane City Council election, proposed a 650% rate rise on landlords who raise rents in a two-year period. It is the sort of policy we need now.
