2024-12-12
Today the ACT Greens have launched draft legislation to enshrine housing as a human right, alongside a discussion paper seeking community feedback.
“Like education or healthcare, affordable housing is an essential service and key to living a life with dignity. From childhood through to adulthood, housing provides the basis for stability in all aspects of our lives,” said Leader of the ACT Greens, Shane Rattenbury.
“For too long, politicians across the nation have treated the government’s role in the housing market as providing for private profit, rather than safeguarding our community from the skyrocketing cost of finding and keeping a home.
“Now more than ever, in the middle of the most urgent housing crisis in living memory, we need to think about housing differently.
“We need to set the groundwork for a complete rethink of the government’s role in the housing market, providing a starting point for deeper, more ambitious discussions about how the government can provide truly affordable homes.
“This legislation put forward by the Greens’ reflects a practical way we can focus the priorities of the government, ensuring that the government properly considers housing affordability in decision making.
“This means that when legislation is introduced in the Assembly, the government will need to consider the human right to housing, which includes the impact on security of tenure for Canberrans, affordability, services like water and electricity, accessibility, location and cultural adequacy
“It is my hope this legislation will start a conversation both within and outside the government about the level of change that is needed to prioritise building homes for people over the private profit of property investors and companies.
“This could include greater focus on market interventions or broader provision of publicly owned housing to boost the rental market with affordable places to live, we’re open to all sorts of ideas from the community.
“That’s why we’ve launched a discussion paper alongside this new legislation to ensure there is a real grassroots movement behind this call for change.
“Canberrans who want to have their say can submit their feedback by getting in touch with my office. These submissions will inform the future of Greens action on enshrining housing a human right.”
For more information about the draft legislation and discussion paper, visit the ACT Greens website. Consultation for the draft legislation will close on Friday the 28th of February 2025 and is welcome from everyone in the community.