Two-thirds of tenants in Australia rent through a real estate agent. A national shortage of private rental housing forces these tenants to impress the real estate agent to secure a property. The ability to make a good impression on the agent, however, is largely based on a variety of factors that place some tenants at a disadvantage.

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In NSW current tenancy legislation allows landlords in the private market to end a tenancy without having to give a reason. This means renters are often scared to enforce their rights because they know they can get kicked out for things like asking for repairs or challenging an excessive rent increase. Make Renting Fair is a community campaign calling for law reform to end these unfair evictions. Support for the Make Renting Fair campaign continues to grow.

Make Renting Fair is a new community campaign to end unfair evictions. Bringing together a strong coalition of local community organisations, unions, and faith based organisations, the Tenants Union of NSW and Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services are calling on the NSW State Government to make renting fair, and ensure renters in New South Wales are protected against unfair evictions.

Firstly, to introduce us, I am Carol (on the left in the picture) and my sister is Vivian (on the right). We are social housing residents living in Riverwood and have lived here since 1984. Originally we were in a third-floor unit on – a word I dislike – a housing estate. Because Vivian had a health problem we were given a transfer a short distance away to a small villa. Our introduction to the Tenants’ Union of NSW was while I was doing a Diploma of Community Work/Welfare at TAFE around 2007.

Sharon Callaghan, former Tenant Advocate in the Illawarra, reflects on the fight for tenants' rights in the 1980s and 1990s. In the early 1980s Sharon was a community worker at the Community Youth Support Scheme (CYSS), where housing and tenancy were significant problems for those living on low fixed incomes, trying to rent or living in boarding houses. The downturn in the steel industry and economic crisis of that time worsened the poverty for young people and families without paid employment.

Indigo Dunphy is a 20 year old queer person who, at the time of interviewing, was living in a share house with another queer woman and two straight men. She has a girlfriend who stayed over regularly. She talks about the difficulties of finding a safe and respectful share house to live in.

Parental rejection and family violence based on gender identity have been cited as causes of homelessness for young trans people in Australia. The insecurity of homelessness can in turn have devastating effects on a person’s mental and physical health. Given that trans people are already four times more likely to have been diagnosed with depression than the general population, the compounding effects of homelessness on trans people can be dire. In this article Dylan Stanford discusses these issues, with insights from Alyssa, a young bisexual trans woman with lived experience of homelessness and housing.