Owning a Home

By Jesse Hutchinson, Greens Candidate for Fremantle

From as young as I can remember I’ve always been fascinated by houses and more broadly the idea of home. Even now at the age of 29 I walk through my neighbourhood peering at all the homes and wondering about the stories associated with each of them and the happiness they can bring. I believe this fascination with homes comes as a result of growing up believing that they were so out of reach for me, so much so that they took on mythical status in my young mind. Growing up in rental and social housing, small places often with inadequate safety provisions and run-down fixings, the idea of one day having my own ‘nice’ home was as distant as a Hollywood movie to me. Fast forward to me at age 29 and this belief still lingers in my head and my youthful naivety has proven to be somewhat correct as the idea of owning my own home still seems wildly out of reach, considering I am a 29 year-old teacher in a dual income relationship with two children this shouldn’t be the case. Having said that, my story is not an uncommon one in modern Australia. Whether you are a renter or looking to buy, the odds are stacked against you, in plain speaking terms, we have a housing affordability crisis in Australia and this has very dire social consequences for those involved.

As humans we crave stability; stability is crucial if we are to be healthy and prosperous as individuals in a society. A key pillar of stability is a roof over our heads, not just any roof however, it should be safe, secure and dare I say it nice and comfortable. Up until the age of 6 I can barely remember being in a house for longer than six months or a year as my parents struggled to afford a decent place for us to live; I have no doubt this affected my development up until that age. From the age of 6 onwards I was lucky enough to live in the same rented house throughout my primary and high school years; I have no doubt that this stability helped me to achieve what I have to date. Unaffordable rents, short leases and strict rental conditions lead to a lack of stability for renters and this has a particularly negative effect on children and young people; I see this in my teaching career first hand. Renters rights are human rights and we need to rewrite the rules to make sure that people who choose or are forced to rent, like my parents and myself, are granted stability in their leases and conditions and that rental prices are reasonable and attainable for working people and those doing it tough.

Even though I believe there is absolutely nothing wrong with renting I certainly do not do it by choice, I do it because the housing market is unequivocally stacked against people of my generation due to it being gauged by previous generations; this isn’t hearsay this is fact. Purchasing a house is unattainable for me, not because I eat smashed avocados (I don’t) but because successive governments have introduced or sat on policies that benefit developers and investors ‒ not individuals and families. The odds are stacked against me and my family. As a professional in a dual income relationship it is almost farcical that I can’t afford a home of a decent standard to raise my family. Of course, I could choose to live on the very outskirts of the metropolitan area and I don’t begrudge anyone who chooses that option, but I want my children to grow up in the community that I grew up in and be enriched by all it has to offer. Young people should not be forced onto the outskirts of the city simply because they are chasing the basic goal of owning a home. This year alone more people in Australia purchased a 7th home than a 1^st: in no supposedly egalitarian society is that an acceptable statistic. Right now young people are not getting a look in at the housing market and this has to change immediately.

The current situation of high rents, short leases, strict conditions and unattainably high house prices is one that needs to change in Australia. The only way it is going to change is by meaningful policy action to even the playing field, and I believe The Greens are the only party that understand this and that's why I am proud to stand as a candidate in 2019.

As I approach my 30th birthday, the idea of owning a home is as mythical as it ever has been to me. I hope by the time I am approaching my 40th birthday this is not the case.

Header photo: A comfortable house of days gone by, in Peppermint Grove. Creative Commons