The government should heed the calls of advocate groups in Canberra and fast-track measures that could lead to solutions to the rental affordability crisis in the capital.
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The Sunday Canberra Times has focused on rental affordability to draw attention to the issue affecting an estimated 7000 households across the capital.
The cost of rent is at an all-time high.
In the case of 18 suburbs, weekly mortgage repayments for units are less than the cost of the median asking price for rent.
While many in Canberra have high incomes and stable jobs, there is a large number of people who don't. Those people deserve greater support from the government.
Single-income tenants, or those reliant on government benefits, are particularly vulnerable and bear the brunt of the bottom line; searching for weeks or months in hopes of being accepted while landlords overlook them in favour of families or couples.
Anglicare, a service providing emergency housing and homelessness support, said there is a dire lack of affordable rental properties in the national capital.
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But the problem isn't only in the cost of renting, it's in the quality of the homes that are allowed to be tenanted in the ACT.
The ACT government has said it's committed to providing safe, affordable and appropriate homes for all Canberrans, but in practice that doesn't seem to be happening.
Canberrans with modest or even moderate budgets are being forced into nearly unlivable conditions, like living in rental properties without heating and with cardboard-thin walls.
Tenants Union ACT executive officer Deb Pippen said Canberra's landlords are able to add "inconsistent terms" to a lease agreement, meaning anything outside what would generally be in one.
This could be something like automatically having to fumigate the property when you vacate it, just because you have a pet.
She said prospective tenants, particularly single income earners struggling to be accepted to anything they apply for, are unlikely to be able to say no to whatever clauses are put in front of them.
Winter is particularly difficult for tenants juggling rental payments with additional heating costs.
Renters live in the dark about their homes' energy efficiency rating, with it not being a requirement for properties not sold in the previous 12 months.
But even if they had one, the system is inherently - and admittedly, on the government's part - flawed.
While the ACT government has put in place some measures that look set to improve the crisis, it's playing catch-up for years of unmet demand.
The national capital should be setting an example for the rest of Australia by looking after the vulnerable people in the community. It's a shame this doesn't seem to be the case.
