Almost 100K homes empty in the middle of a housing crisis

97,861. That is the number of homes that were left empty in Melbourne last year according to Prosper Australia’s recent report.

At a time when tens of thousands of Victorians are sleeping rough or living in their cars, and the wait list for public housing continues to grow, this is absolutely outrageous. 

These are homes that people could live in. 

Instead, they’re mostly owned by property speculators who are leaving them empty while they wait for the right time to sell and make a huge profit, or homes that are listed on Airbnb.

The Labor State Government should not find it acceptable that there are nearly 100,000 homes empty in our city, while people have nowhere to live.

Earlier this year, the Greens used our power in the Victorian Parliament to get the Labor Government to introduce a tax on empty homes. It begins on January 1, 2025, and the tax will increase for every year that someone leaves a home empty. 

This is a good step to addressing this problem, but there’s still much more to do. Our housing system is completely cooked. Here’s another example. If someone buys a property and then sells it for a profit, they only pay tax on half of that profit. They pay less tax on that profit than you do on your salary. 

Labor should not put the rights of people to be property investors and earn huge profits, over the right of someone to have a roof over their head. 

The Greens and I will keep pushing Labor to:  

• Recognise housing as a human right
• Cap rent increases 
• Stop the privatisation of public housing and build more public housing homes 
• Regulate Airbnbs to get more homes on the long-term rental market
• End tax concessions for property investors 

These are easy solutions that the Labor State Government could implement if they had the will.  

We need homes for people to live in to solve the housing crisis. It really is that simple. 

If there’s anything I can help you with, please get in touch at [email protected]. •