Yesterday, two different people, in two separate conversations, suggested that I should consider running in the upcoming local elections. Can you imagine? Councillor Jess Kelly?!? While I would usually scoff at such far out, fantastical ideas, this thought trail seems to be pulling me along rather than spitting me out.
Turns out (and quite obviously) that I have to be an Australian citizen to run (which I’m not - yet) and I missed the cut off date but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t planted an annoying seed that may or may not grow into something more meaningful. I’m hoping that by sharing this spark of an idea, there might be people in my sphere of influence with far more knowledge about this sort of thing than me and they’d be up for further discussion about it… Universe, the ball is in your court!
I never really thought I’d be interested in local politics, or any type of politics to be honest - it's one of those environments most of us speculate on from afar but my experience earlier this year with our Future Shapers visit to Parliament and having spent more time with our local MPs, councillors and the Mayor has given me a fresh perspective and a new understanding on why these elected few dedicate themselves to representing and (hopefully) empowering their communities.
Through no fault of my own I feel like I’ve evolved into an advocate for the working poor. When it comes to conversations around housing affordability and quality you literally can’t shut me up. If you’ve read ANY of these blogs you’ll find that my lived experience with shitty rentals is a running theme. However, I often find myself in rooms with the people who are making the major decisions, or at least influencing those that do.
Last week I attended the Housing Forum hosted by the Premier Jacinta Allan and Treasurer Tim Pallas. The discussion was about the 800,000+ new dwellings that Victoria needs to build in the next 10 years. Not surprisingly the focus was on Melbourne rather than the Regions. By 2051, current projections have Victoria's population hitting 10 million people (it’s currently 6.98 million). 80-85% of that growth is expected in Melbourne making it about the same size as London which is gross if you think about how hard it is to get around the place already.
I could see Michael Poulton, CEO of Committee of Ballarat (CoB) itching to ask a question in the Q and A session because CoB is advocating and proposing that we help disperse that growth by investing in the Regions. There is absolutely no reason why our regional centres can’t take more of our new Victorians with the right planning and investment in infrastructure (like a domestic terminal at Ballarat Airport for example). Instead of Michael being able to ask the Premier about this alternative plan for growth (I assume that is what he was going to ask) some developer dickhead got up and said we needed to create more incentives for Mum and Dad investors! That’s what negative gearing is twat and its why we’re fucked in the first place (massive rant to follow in a future blog soon)!
When Jacinta Allan did her speech, she spoke fondly about buying her first home in Bendigo many years ago and how she has some nice place out in the bush now and it dawned on me… I was sitting in a room of about 300 representatives from the local government right through to construction companies all of whom are ‘building the future for Victoria’. They’re building MY future, and I might have been one of the very few people in that room who was actually renting.
I could take a guess that most of the people at the forum would own their own house, if not a couple. In reality over 30% of Victorian’s are renters and the amount of life-long renters is constantly increasing as owning your own home becomes more and more out of reach. I was in a meeting the other day that mentioned the disenfranchised youth. If you are a young person today, owning your own home is so far beyond the scope of achievable things that it has dropped off most people's lists entirely. So much for the ‘Australian Dream…’.
While this developer dickhead was given his 15 seconds of fame to moan about not making enough profits, I wanted to stand up and say that I literally have shit pumping out into my backyard (which I did at the time) and have to move house because my landlord can’t afford to fix the problem. The move cost us just under $6K for future reference if anyone is thinking that it might be easier to sell their investment property without tenants in it.
When we talk about future growth and the housing crisis I’m pretty passionate about renters and life-long renters being part of that conversation - not just their landlords, but the actual people who are living in someone else ‘investment’. ‘Build to rent’ was high on the agenda of the government's housing plan but the words sustainable, energy efficient and livable were scarcely mentioned, if at all.
The most promising panel guest of the housing forum was Dan McKenna, the CEO of Nightingale Housing. They have designed a business that 80% of their buildings pay for the other 20% to be affordable housing. Not only are these buildings the most sought after apartments around because of their fantastic energy efficiency and community building vibes, but their clients will pay more to help create homes for those who might not be able to do it themselves. This model is a MASSIVE success with Nightingale not able to build as quickly as the market demands it. What if other developers followed suit?
It turns out that I seem to be sitting at the big kids table quite a bit these days. It turns out that if you're a member of the local government they might even let you talk! This has sparked my interest greatly and may or may not completely change my trajectory.
PS. I'm giving a talk about the rebranding of Ballarat Business Women next Wednesday as part of the B31 Festivities in Ballarat next week. You should come.
