OPINION PIECE: Been hot lately? Too many renters across SA are stuck in substandard housing that's too hot in summer and too cold in winter - and saddled with too-high energy bills as a result. SACOSS CEO Ross Womersley issues a strong call in The Advertiser for minimum energy efficiency standards and mandatory disclosure for rental properties in SA.
As Adelaide enjoys a few days break from the hot and humid weather that has made life uncomfortable, it is worth reflecting on what the heat of summer (and the cold of winter) means for renters in substandard accommodation: non-existent heating and cooling, inefficient appliances or heaters, no insulation, gaps in walls and windows, and all at unaffordable rental prices.
On Tuesday night I co-hosted a forum for renters in the electorate of West Torrens. The forum was jointly held by SACOSS, the Anti-Poverty Network SA, Shelter SA and Better Renting, and renters also joined us online from across the state. Renters told powerful stories not just of poor energy efficiency, but of mould and damp, broken appliances and a lack of renter rights. Escaping last week’s heat was difficult, and they were not alone.
The authoritative Australian Rental Housing Conditions Dataset’s 2020 national survey of renters (including over 1,000 in SA) shows that 29 percent of renters could not keep comfortably warm in winter and 24 percent could not keep comfortably cool in summer. The results were similar across both public and private rentals.
This is all possible because we do not currently have minimum standards for energy efficiency in rental homes. That means investors can continue to purchase substandard properties and rent them to desperate people who don’t have the money or permission to invest in energy efficient improvements to their home.
Simple measures such as insulation, efficient reverse cycle heating and cooling, window glazing and building-sealing can increase the thermal comfort of rental homes and reduce electricity bills for residents, but renters can’t implement them.
That’s why we need minimum energy efficiency standards and why we need mandatory disclosure by landlords of energy efficiency ratings of their properties. There needs to be a baseline standard and tenants need to know what they are getting and whether they will really be able to afford to live in it.
There is a national plan to deliver energy efficiency disclosure and standards, but the current indication from the South Australian government is that disclosures here will be voluntary and there is no timetable, or concrete commitment for any minimum standards. Disclosure which is not mandatory is simply advertising, and it will leave renters unable to judge whether they can afford to live in the place they rent. Minimum standards that are not compulsory are not minimums, they are mere advisories that can be ignored.
At the West Torrens renters’ forum this week, Labor’s Tom Koutsantonis, the local MP and shadow energy spokesperson, agreed that things should be better for renters but could offer the meeting no further commitment to either minimum standards or mandated disclosure.
Both the government and the Labor Party need to do better. Sympathy for renters and a vague trajectory are not good enough – but a genuine commitment to minimum energy efficiency standards and mandatory disclosure will be.
Ross Womersley is CEO of the South Australian Council of Social Service. A shorter version of this opinion piece was published in The Advertiser on 11 February 2022.