Make Renting Fair campaign relaunch: When renters organise, we can win!
27/09/2021
Everyone needs a home that is secure, affordable and liveable.
We’ve known for a long time that the renting system does not meet the needs of the more than 1 in 3 households who rent in NSW. For far too long the renting system in NSW has been unfair. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated housing crisis have shone a bright light on how broken our renting system is, and the need for change.
We relaunched our Make Renting Fair campaign with a forum on Thursday, 14 October. At the launch, we began to to explore alongside our community: what can we do to build a fairer renting system? What can we learn from successes overseas about how we can organise renters and win?
In April this year, Germany’s federal court struck down Berlin’s hard-won rent-cap. Fortunately, a campaign to expropriate the largest corporate landlords was already well underway. In June, following renters' outrage at the overturn of the rent cap, the expropriation campaign met the requirements to put a referendum on expropriation to the citizens of Berlin on the 26th of September, 2021. As more than 50% of voters voted Ja! (yes), the Berlin Senate is now under enormous pressure to expropriate over 240,000 homes and hand them over to a public, not-for-profit, democratically governed body that is required to keep rents low and homes well maintained.
We heard from organisers from the group behind the expropriation campaign, Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co, about how they’ve organised renters in their communities, built power, and earned incredible successes.
