Better Renting welcomes the Human Rights (Housing) Amendment Bill 2025 and strongly supports the recognition of housing as a human right in ACT law. In this submission, we reflect on the importance of grounding the right to housing in the lived experience of renters, and the need to ensure this right is made real through effective implementation, enforcement, and accountability. We offer recommendations to support the bill’s intent and ensure it delivers tangible, positive outcomes for renters in the ACT.

Why a right to housing matters for renters

The ACT has demonstrated a genuine commitment to improving housing outcomes and is leading the country when it comes to renters’ rights. The territory has already implemented critical reforms that will benefit renters, including:

• Banning no-cause evictions,
• Capping rent increases linked to CPI,
• Introducing minimum rental standards, including energy efficiency requirements.

 Despite these reforms, renters in the ACT still face housing stress, instability and barriers to safe, adequate homes. These challenges are particularly acute for renters on low incomes, renters with disabilities, older renters, and individuals and families living in marginal or precarious tenancies. 

Better Renting supports the recognition of housing as a human right and sees this Bill as an important step toward embedding dignity and stability into the ACT’s housing system. For  renters, the idea of a ‘right to housing’ is not abstract - it reflects the need for a safe, stable and healthy home, and the expectation that government will play an active role  in making that a reality. 

To make this right meaningful in people’s lives, the ACT Government must treat it not as just a legal statement but as a practical commitment. This requires a clear plan for implementation, robust mechanisms for compliance and accountability, policy integration, and the involvement of renters and civil society in shaping that process.

Stories from renters in the ACT

While the ACT has introduced important rental reforms, the experiences renters have shared with Better Renting over the past year demonstrate that many  are still struggling to have their most basic needs met at home.

I do feel hesitant to raise anything with my landlord that may lead to eviction (though understanding there are now some stronger protections around this). I have outstanding repair requests made the day after I moved in, but I'm also unlikely to see that as being worth taking any further (e.g., pushing my landlord harder and/or taking anything to ACAT).

My most recent issue is that I had water leaking from the hydronic heating system onto the floor. The solution has been to cap the pipes so that I now have no built-in heating system (not that the system in place was very effective). My gas hot water system was installed in 1995 and seems passed [sic] its useful life in terms of providing consistent hot water, but I don't see much chance of my landlord replacing it until it fails completely (or there is a requirement to electrify for rental properties). A key thing is, I love the location of where I live, its proximity to work, shops, bushland and friends, so there are compromises I'm making to stay connected to the things I love.

–Geoff, Canberra-based renter, from our 2024 Cost of Renting Survey

Landlords are failing to meet the obligations required under the improved standards, meaning renters continue to live in unhealthy and unsafe homes, and face excessive rent increases and  energy costs.

I live in a run down 1960s house. Only the most urgent of maintenance is done and even then there are lengthy waits. For example, the only toilet being blocked for over a week, no heating in the middle of winter for over a month, mould, and much more. 

Rental increases have been well above what is legally allowed. Our concerns are ignored. The rent alone would have covered the original mortgage many years ago, so the owners are unlikely to be impacted by interest rates for this house. I'm in my late forties and my spouse is in their early fifties. We both have health issues. My spouse has not worked for a long time and my income supports both of us.

Our lifestyle is frugal. We don't go on holidays, nor purchase expensive things. For example, our clothing is second hand or from Big W. The highest temperature the house will be in winter during the day is 16 and we don't heat overnight.

–Anonymous Canberra-based renter, from our 2024 Cost of Renting survey

Implementation

To make the right to housing feel real for renters, the ACT Government must outline how it will deliver on this right in practice. This includes clear policies that improve rental affordability, security of tenure, housing quality, and energy affordability. The plan must set out goals, timelines, and responsibilities, with an explicit focus on renters as a priority group. 

Recommendation 1: Create a detailed plan outlining how the right to housing will be realised with specific goals and timelines, with specifications for renters.

Recommendation 2: Involve renters, housing advocates and community organisations in the development and monitoring of this plan.

Accountability

Renters cannot be expected to enforce their housing rights alone. At present, many legal protections in the ACT depend on renters being willing and able to challenge landlords through formal processes like ACAT which is often unrealistic due to time, cost, fear or retaliation, or lack of support among other reasons. The ACT government must ensure there are proactive systems in place to monitor compliance, enforce standards, and hold landlords accountable. This is essential to making the right to housing meaningful in practice. 

Note: The ACT’s recent experience with the rental insulation standard highlights how strong policy can fall short without proper enforcement. As outlined in the Auditor-General’s report, compliance relies entirely on landlord self-reporting, with no routine verification by government agencies. Renters are expected to take issues to the tribunal themselves - an unrealistic burden given the power imbalance in the rental market.

Recommendation 3: Establish proactive government-led compliance systems, so enforcement does not rely solely on renters raising issues through individual complaints.

Recommendation 4: Ensure government agencies have clear powers to monitor and verify compliance, including the ability to review documentation and conduct inspections where needed.

Recommendation 5: Introduce meaningful penalties for non-compliance that are proportionate and act as a real deterrent..

Recommendation 6: Publish regular data on compliance rates, enforcement actions, and progress toward realising renters’ housing rights to promote transparency and track progress

Recommendation 7: Ensure that breaches of housing rights can be addressed through accessible legal avenues, such as ACAT.

Policy integration

For the right to housing to have real impact, it must be embedded across all relevant areas of government, not only in housing policy but also in planning, infrastructure, energy, climate adaptation, and social services. Existing laws and policies should be reviewed to ensure they do not undermine housing security or affordability. Government decisions at every level should be guided by the principle that housing is a human right.

Recommendation 8: Review and align all relevant government policies and programs with the right to housing

Recommendation 9: Identify and amend any laws or practices that may undermine housing rights or or restrict access to safe, secure, and affordable housing. 

Recommendation 10: Ensure the right to housing informs decision making across portfolios including climate, energy, planning and infrastructure.