2022-09-07
Today the Scottish government has announced they are freezing rents for all public and private rental properties until March 2023 and banning evictions over winter, to protect Scottish renters from the impacts of a devastating cost of living crisis. The rent freeze comes alongside an increase to the Scottish child payment, extending free school meals for primary students and freezing rail fares until March 2023, in a package of measures designed to help households with a cost of living crisis First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described as a “humanitarian emergency”.
Lines attributable to Max Chandler-Mather MP, Greens spokesperson for housing and homelessness:
“The Scottish Government is showing what national leadership on the rental and cost of living crisis looks like, and Anthony Albanese and the Federal Labor party should take note.”
“Memo to Anthony Albanese, Scotland froze rents in the private rental market without “nationalising all property” so maybe he can now drop the feigned ignorance act.”
“There’s a reason Scotland is freezing rents, because it works and it is exactly how you protect renters from unfair and massive rent increases.”
“We’ve got 2.7 million people in rental stress after rents have increased seven times faster than wages and it’s only going to get worse. Now that Scotland has shown the way it is time for the Federal Government to finally start treating this once in a generation housing crisis seriously.”
“The Victorian Government has done it in the past, the Australian Federal Government froze rents in WWII and now Scotland is freezing rents, it’s time the Australian Government froze rents and gave renters some much needed relief.”
“On Tuesday the Prime Minister said the government’s solution to the rental crisis was building 30,000 social and affordable homes over 5 years, and my question is what is the government going to do about the millions of renters his government’s policy will leave behind, not to mention the half a million in need of social housing?”