Greens agree to wave through Labor’s Help to Buy and Build to Rent bills, ending stalemate

Labor will be able to pass two of its signature housing policies after the Greens agreed to “wave through” the government’s shared-equity and build-to-rent Bills after a lengthy standoff. In a victory for the government, Labor will be able to legislate its election commitment to allow 40,000 first homeowners to buy a home with the government footing in 40 per cent of the purchase price for a new home, and 30 per cent for an existing home. It will also be able to pass its Build-to-Rent Bill which offers developers tax incentives for purpose-built rental housing, with 10 per cent of homes to be earmarked as affordable rentals. Greens Leader Adam Bandt said the minor party had “pushed“ as far it could get, however warned it would continue to hold Labor to account at the next election. “We tried hard to get Labor to shift on soaring rents and negative gearing, but we couldn’t get there this time,” he said. “We’ll wave the housing bills through and take the fight to the next election, where we’ll keep Peter Dutton out and then push Labor to act on unlimited rent rises and tax handouts to wealthy property investors.” Previously the Greens attempted to broker their support in exchange for reductions in negative gearing and capital tax benefits for investors, a cap on rent increases and greater social housing plus greater allowances for social housing. The Greens most recent push called on the government to build an extra 25,000 social and affordable homes, plus other amendments to the Bill which were rejected by the government. Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather had accused Labor of abandoning renters, adding the Help to Buy would increase supply and drive up house prices, while homes created under the Build to Rent would still be unaffordable for struggling renters. “The Greens are waving through Labor’s housing bills after accepting Labor doesn’t care enough about renters to actually do anything meaningful for them, and that is deeply, deeply disappointing,” he said. “We have pushed as hard as possible to get Labor to do more than tinkering around the edges of this devastating housing crisis in this term of parliament, but in the end we just couldn’t get Labor to care enough.” Despite the win for Labor, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil accused the Greens of “hypocrisy,” and “relentless politicking” over their repeated attempts to delay key housing policies. “Delay is costly and the Greens need to understand that,” she said. “I’m glad they have finally seen the light but it doesn’t excuse the fact they have played politics for two-and-a-half years, and the net effect of the Greens in this term of parliament is to delay action on housing and cause greater pains for Australians who are in housing distress. While she said discussions with crossbenchers would continue, Ms O’Neil was optimistic that the Bills would pass. “I believe these Bills have now got a really clear passage through the parliament but I don’t want to speak for specific crossbenchers, they’ll have their chance to do that directly,” she said.