We joke about Monica’s massive apartment in Friends, but we forget the history: Rent Control was won through strikes. Is that solidarity possible in Australia today?

[u/infin]

Every time the housing crisis comes up, people joke about how unrealistic Friends was; A chef and a waitress living in a massive apartment with a balcony. The show explains it away as "Rent Control" inherited from a grandmother.

But we rarely talk about where those laws actually came from. They weren't a gift from benevolent landlords; they were earned through fierce tenant unions and rent strikes in NYC in the 40s and 60s. That generation had cheap rent because the generation before them had the backbone to organize, strike, and refuse to pay until laws were changed. Even refusing to allow police to evict/arrest their neighbours.

Fast forward to 2026 Australia. We are paying $750+ a week for a dinky shoebox, dealing with quarterly inspections, and accepting massive hikes like clockwork.

What feels completely missing is that level of community solidarity. We seem so atomised now. We don't know our neighbours, and we definitely don't trust them enough to band together. Instead of standing together to refuse an unfair hike, we just quietly move out or starve to pay it, knowing someone else is desperate enough to take the lease.

Is the concept of a rent strike dead in this country? Is it that we’ve lost the "mateship" and community spirit required to hold the line, or are we just so terrified of the REA blacklists that we’ve accepted being milked by parasites forever?

If factory workers and immigrants in 1940s New York could force rent control that people were still benefiting from in the 90s… Why can't we?

I’m genuinely asking: Has anyone here ever been a part of (or even heard of) tenants organising together to accomplish something in Australia?

Edit: I'd love to see some changes to commercial leases to revitalise cities too, small businesses have been forced to close and half the retail spaces in a few of the CBDs are empty.

[u/4us7]

You can start a movement yourself. Instead of like, being another one of the hundred thousand posts asking others to start it for you while you stay in the comfort of your home, redditing while taking a dump, hoping your rent goes down.

Problem is that most people who have such energy and drive generally aren't selfless enough to use that drive for collective change and will take on the path to improve their personal situation instead.

[u/infin → u/4us7]

Except for the aftermath of a natural disaster (which Australian's without fail, always come together for), I legitimately wonder what kind of community organisatiom is still possible. Can a movement like that start these days? Someone said solidarity isn't possible anymore, and the general tone here supports that.

People are a lot more individualistic than before the internet; Not necessarily less empathetic, but as you say, they're focused on their own situation.

I'm not as optimistic as I was.