Tenants' Union response to NSW Budget 2025-26

The Tenant’s Union recognises the NSW state budget handed down today by the Treasurer which includes a range of items intended to assist with the housing and justice needs of the community. 

We look to the Budget to set priorities for the state, and strongly recommend to each government that expenditure on preventing issues is more effective than responding to crisis after the fact. We support the calls from colleagues across the community sector for ambitious and forward looking expenditure to support the sector in preventing harm rather than more expensive and limited responses after the system has already failed.

We comment particularly on items that we raised in our Pre-Budget Submission and recognise the need for expenditure to support communities across a range of portfolios.

Wellbeing standards

The report on wellbeing shows the proportion of rent for a dual income household has lifted from a historic average of around 20% to 25% in the last 4 years, while the household income needed to buy has also increased. This demonstrates the pressure being placed on families by their housing costs. It also demonstrates that pursuing owner occupation with increasing price rises is not a sustainable model.

The wellbeing measures are missing key elements that speak to the number of renters being moved against their will each year and the length of time spent in a home, both of which can and are measured. NSW should be seeking a renting system that assures people that if they do their best to adhere to the tenancy contract they can stay, and that if they want to move to take up opportunities, to form new households that there will be options available for them.

We should be seeking for tenancies to continue for at least 5-6 years, rather than the current median of less than 2 years. This will support stronger mental health outcomes, stronger community connections and a stronger economy.
 

What we sought

In our Pre-Budget Submission, we asked three key ministers for important items to support the rental system, across Better Regulation and Fair Trading, the Attorney-General and Housing and Homelessness.

Better Regulation and Fair Trading

We sought restoration of funding for Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services to meet the growth in renting population. While the Budget papers do not specify funding for each program funded under the Department of Customer Services, we make the following comment.

Renters have more than $2.2bn of their money held in the Rental Bond Board which the government invests and then spends on improving the rental system. This amount has increased 7% over the last year, but the return available to the Rental Bond Board has increased only 5%. Treasury is delivering a return on Rental Bond Board funds barely higher than projected inflation despite the increasing pool available to invest. If the bonds money was invested in the OneFund investment vehicle it could be delivering nearly double the current return, significantly increasing the ability for important services to be funded.

The Tenants Advice and Advocacy Program desperately needs an increase of nearly $10 million a year to catch up with the growth in the renting population and ensure people have the effective support that prevents homelessness, reduces and resolves conflict and educates the community. While we we recognise the increase last year of an additional $1m a year, which addressed the shortfall year on year of payments to maintain the same level of work, this needs to be built on to meet community needs. These funds could easily be covered by Treasury ensuring sound custodianship and delivering the actual returns on renters' bonds back to the Rental Bond Board. Renters deserve to know where the rest of the return earned on their money is going.

The Rental Bond Board and Property Services Interest Account are both legislatively empowered to support the Tenants Advice and Advocacy Program and also have significant financial holdings that could be better used to support renters without drawing on general revenue.

Attorney General

We sought additional resources for the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to ensure the online registry service was accessible to Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services and renters, and to ensure the election commitment to an NCAT review was supported to deliver on recommendations. These items weren't directly addressed and we will seek clarification on whether these items are included in the Budget papers.

We also sought an increase in funding through the Community Legal Centres Program to the Tenants’ Union of NSW as the specialist legal centre working in renting law to $1 million per year (from approximately $350,000) which would complement our work supporting the Tenants Advice and Advocacy Program. This would allow us to represent more people in need of assistance in public interest cases and community education, particularly with the introduction of rental reforms.

We note that there is an increase in funds available for grants in the Justice portfolio, and that final decisions have not been made in relation to some parts of community legal centre funding. We recognise the importance of supporting access to justice and support for victims of violence and support greater access to justice for all residents of NSW.

Homes NSW

We recognised the important first step last year of providing significant funding for new, additional publicly funded housing and called for additional support of $5.1bn this year and every year to lift the proportion of public and community housing in the state to 10% of all housing. This supports delivery of housing generally, including the construction industry’s capacity where private funds may not facilitate delivery of housing and a healthier system. Additional funding helps eliminate the need to sell or privatise current public housing properties and land and instead supports infilling and enhancing existing public housing.

While there are a range of supports for housing in the Budget there is not an increase in the funds for publicly funded housing to the level required.

We will continue to advocate to and work with Government to deliver a fair renting system in NSW.