On 22 June 2023 the Senate referred an inquiry into the worsening rental crisis in Australia to the Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report, with an interim report to be presented by 23 September 2023 to aid in the deliberations of the National Cabinet on renters' rights, and a final report to be presented by 28 November 2023.
The inquiry website can be accessed here. Written submissions were invited by 1 September 2023.
AHPA provided a written response to the Inquiry. Broadly, the Australian Health Promotion Association called for:
- Access to safe and secure housing as a human right and as part of the right to an adequate standard of living.
- Access to appropriate, affordable, safe and secure housing as a key social determinant of health.
- Recognition that poor quality and unaffordable housing and homelessness have adverse effects on physical and mental health and immediate steps to address these issues.
- Provision of sufficient affordable and appropriate housing to meet need which would provide significant positive impacts for health, safety, income, jobs, and the community.
- Strategies to meet the housing needs of those most vulnerable as a matter of urgency.
- Strategies to ease cost of living pressures which contribute to the housing and rental crisis.
- Expedited action on development of Australia’s new National Housing and Homelessness Plan and sufficient resourcing for its implementation and monitoring.
The submission by drafted by: Dr Joanne Flavel, Talia Blythman and Dr Caroline Adams with contribution and editing from Dr Gemma Crawford.
Read AHPA's submission in full here.