2026-09-24
The Victorian Greens say new data showing more than one in three notices to vacate are being issued because renters can’t afford their rent is further proof Victoria urgently needs rent controls and a massive expansion of public housing.
New Real Estate Industry Partners data reported today found 37.8 per cent of notices to vacate were issued over unpaid rent, while renters moving into a unit were paying as much as 9 per cent more than the previous tenant.
The data also found Victorian households are spending around a third of median household income on rent, with rental arrears particularly acute across Melbourne’s west.
The Greens say the figures expose the human cost of years of rapidly rising rents and a housing system that has allowed property investors complete power over tenants’ lives.
The Greens’ housing plan would freeze rents for two years and at the start of every new tenancy, before permanently capping rent increases so they stay below wage growth and inflation.
Parliamentary Budget Office modelling commissioned by the Greens found rent controls could save the average Victorian renter more than $15,500 by 2030.
The Greens would also stop the demolition and privatisation of public housing and more than double Victoria’s public housing stock, building 88,000 new public homes while maintaining and upgrading existing homes.
Quotes attributable to the Victorian Greens housing and renters’ rights spokesperson, Gabrielle de Vietri:
“These figures are grim but unsurprising. Renters are cutting back on food, heating, and having to make impossible decisions between buying medicine or paying rent. It’s not surprising that one in three evictions are being issued because people can’t simply keep up. What’s shocking is that renters are being put in this situation in the first place.
“This isn’t even the full story when we know that so many renters who may be just scraping by when they get hit with another rental increase which may as well be an eviction notice.
“Labor has had more than a decade to fix this crisis and instead Victoria has ended up with renters spending an enormous share of their income just keeping a roof over their heads.
“The answer to this isn’t endlessly chasing more private investors and hoping the market eventually delivers cheaper rents. Labor’s been doing it for years and clearly it doesn’t work. We need to actually bring rents down and give people somewhere affordable to live. That means rent controls and a massive build of public housing.”