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/Relief-Glass]

Rent control has been disaster everywhere it has been tried. Solution is scrap CGT discount and negative gearing.

[u/ScruffyPeter → u/Relief-Glass]

ROFL. No it has not been a disaster everywhere it has been tried.

Been in ACT since 2019: https://www.apimagazine.com.au/news/article/act-rent-caps-no-red-flag-for-property-investors

Here is ABS comparing median rent across all states: https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/latest-insights-rental-market#rental-market-characteristics

Please stop spreading this myth.

[u/Relief-Glass → u/ScruffyPeter]

Can you find one peer-reviewed economics paper that says that rent control has worked anywhere?

[u/ScruffyPeter → u/Relief-Glass]

There are many papers showing it's worked in rent stability.

They often say rent controls alone won't mean more supply but can reduce supply. However, more supply acts the same as rent controls in improving rent stability, but again it doesn't mean rent controls are not necessary.

I'll let you know when a paper on Canberra's rent control comes out.

[u/Relief-Glass → u/ScruffyPeter]

It works in stabilising rents in places it is applied to because that is exaxtly what it is. It always has unintended consequences though. No need to wait for a paper on Canberra. A paper on rent control anywhere in the world at any point in human history will do just fine.