Via Domain:
…a rent strike campaign is targeting up to 100 real estate agents across Victoria and NSW with letters from tenants, threatening a total freeze on rent payments. More than 16,000 Australians have signed up for the campaign.
A letter to landlords in the Yarra City Council area sent on March 31 on behalf of 24 renters said they would “not be paying rent, starting in April”.
“We believe that housing is a right. During this crisis, all landlords and agents should work hard to support people’s basic needs,” the letter said.
Among the demands made by the group are an indefinite amnesty on rent and mortgage payments, a continued ban on all evictions until everyone had recovered from the crisis, no debts, fines or retaliatory rent hikes for tenants, and no adverse rental histories for those who do not pay rent.
The rent and mortgage strike campaign is targeting particular areas in Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland. The suburb-based Facebook group is being run by the Industrial Workers of the World, known as ‘the Wobblies,’ an international socialist group not affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions or particular workplaces.
A glutted market is pushing back against the inflated prices of suppliers. They need to meet the market or sell.
Let it burn.
