2032. Andrew Jennings

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      Noah turned to the task at hand.

      “Persuade the landlords. That’s the mission.”

      Jack smiled.

      “Yes. We are all in it together. One big happy family.”

      “I would rather be shooting predatory capitalists at the border.”

      “Maybe you would. But your skill profile says you are quite good at talking and actually quite poor at shooting.”

      It went silent as the tram sat at Alexander Parade. Watching the car convoys speed east. This was the beginning of the autonomous zone. Cars locked onto a convoy in front, and the drivers became passengers. They could quietly snooze until they got closer to home.

      “Homeward bound.” He said.

      “A bungalow in Templestowe awaits you.”

      “Yes. Well, no, actually.”

      “No.”

      The life unlived. Neither of them would have considered the quiet suburban life. Now that it was clearly out of reach though, in a weird way it looked attractive. How was that? The lure of the impossible.

      “What’s the pitch again?” Noah asked

      “We are re-making the industry. In a new and caring way. Your future is secure.”

      “Yeah, right.”

      “You looked at the analysis?”

      “No.”

      “You should have. They are worried that we are crazy socialists. Intent on taking ownership of their properties without compensation. Rumour has it that we plan to sweet talk them to calm them down and just seize the properties later when they aren’t looking.”

      There was a momentary silence as they scanned for the stop. Jack realised that it was a long time since he had been to this part of town. It was a seriously old building. Now quite out of character with all those around it. Northcote was strange like that. A mix of the decrepit and the rapidly developing. Sort of typical of the inner north. Mazeratis and bicycles.

      Noah and Jack walked towards the hall. Two young men in dark suits approached them, and the electronics started bleeping. Their wearables talking to theirs. Probing and exchanging codes. This was their personal security detail. It was spooky stuff. If it failed then Noah and Jack would have to walk away really quickly. But it didn’t. Noah didn’t like to look, it wasn’t obvious, but both of these guys were heavily armed.

      “Is this really necessary?” Noah asked.

      There was an exchange of glances between Jack and the detail.

      “I’m Michael, this is Hilary. We are pleased to look after you tonight.”

      Noah didn’t persist. Of course he knew why they were there, and why they were necessary. It just seemed incongruous.

      The hall was full. Seriously full. All eyes turned to them as they entered. Around the perimeter there was an impressive array of security. Lots of it. About a guard every five metres all around the aisles. Noah glanced at Jack, who raised his eyebrows and then looked resigned. Yes, it was excessive, but yes, it probably was necessary. Also, yes, it elevated the emotional temperature in the room.

      Noah walked out onto the small stage, feeling very exposed. It was silent. He began.

      “Thank you for coming. I ask you to approach this session tonight with an open mind. Put aside all that you might have heard about this government. Housing is the lifeblood of a city. Unfortunately this city has real problems. People cannot afford to live within reach of where they work. You might see that as a threat to your incomes. But I’m going to ask you to consider that the old regime was unstable. Sooner or later it was all going to come unstuck. Cities are born, cities die. The old ways were a recipe for creating a dead city.”

      He looked out at the eyes watching him. There was a lot of anger, but also now some puzzlement, along with most paying attention. So far, so good.

      “We are going to expand the availability of properties to rent. Of course we can’t do that overnight. It will take time. Rents will fall. But importantly, they will be sustainable.”

      Pausing for breath.

      “Consider the value of a long term tenant. He or she provides you with income perhaps for many decades. This is of great value to you. In the past, the balance of power has been very much in your favour. We are going to reshape this relationship. To make it more equal. To represent the actual commercial nature of this relationship. You will have targets for maintenance response times. If you miss the targets then it will cost you. As in any normal business relationship. It’s completely unacceptable that you could leave a stove not working for months, or a hot water heater out of action for weeks.”

      At the back, there was a swirl of activity. A person got to their feet and shouted at him.

      “What about damage to the property. They can just trash it and leave.” Security hovered over him, but Noah gestured for them to move back.

      “This will work both ways. Renters that don’t meet quick restitution will be banned from the system. Also renters that fall behind in their payments.”

      General murmurs of agreement. It was going well. Time to get to the crux of it.

      “I mentioned shifting the balance. We have new categories of ten year plus rental agreements. Renters that break the lease suffer financial penalties if they leave, commensurate with your costs of finding a new tenant. On the other side, if you decide to terminate the lease you have to find an alternative rental for them to move to. It has to be similar to yours, and in a similar location.”

      He paused. Expecting trouble. At the back there was a group that had been glaring at him the whole time. At the far left in the rear row, a group of four or five shuffled towards the side. At the same time, a questioner jumped up at the other side.

      “We bought these properties on the basis of the law. Rented them out. Now you are arbitrarily stripping the value from them.”

      Some scattered applause, general murmurs of agreement. Noah paused, then replied.

      “As I explained, the important question here is the sustainability of the old way of doing things. The fact that we have a new government shows that the old way was not sustainable.”

      “Bullshit. It shows that you seized power. You’re a dictatorship. Just a jumped up military dictatorship. You have no legitimacy at all.”

      As if on cue, the group on the right started heading towards the stage. They made about ten paces before security reacted. Noah stepped back from the lectern. He wasn’t going to run. At the side of the stage people were waving at him to get off, to retreat with the security. But he wouldn’t.

      He moved back, and began talking again.

      “Legitimacy is earned. I accept that. We will work with you to gain that.”

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