
The power of language
As a country, we have a long history of revising our language in order to shift our attitudes.
It never affects perspectives immediately. But itâs always a start. Remember how long it took to say âsorryâ? Now thatâs looked back upon as a giant leap forward.
Itâs why the âking hitâ became the âcoward punchâ. Itâs why the school system encourages us to quash sexist phrases such as âman upâ, âacting like a princessâ and âtwo to tangoâ. No one is saying it defeats ingrained sexism, but it does change mentalities.
The way we talk about Aussie real estate in 2017 could learn from this.

Much has been said recently about the widening gap between the âhavesâ & the âhave notsâ in Australia. Our obsession with the property market is usually lumped in with this dialogue.
In beer gardens and cafes around Sydney, we talk about homes as a vehicle for wealth creation, and not much more.
We forget that first and foremost, real estate is shelter, security and community.
We hail âgentrificationâ in all its glory. But the word was first used to describe the influx of middle-class people displacing lower-class worker residents in urban neighborhoods.
For many thatâs no reason to worship, especially those seeking shelter, security and community.
Culpable and endemic to the story is the online click bait media. âShack sells for $2 millionâ is never the real yarn. More relevant information is conveniently buried in latter paragraphs – was the shack a building site? Was it was sprawled across multiple allotments?
Real estate agents are just as liable in the language they use to sell a home, versus the portrayal of the same home when sold.
The ensuing online reactions further drive a wedge between people. And disconnection builds from people who already feel the great Australian dream is beyond their reach.

The key decisions in the recent Budget centred on housing affordability. If you look at the memes and satirical news articles spawned that week, it seems people think itâs not enough.
It was powerful to see some of these articles âhumaniseâ the issue of affordability. Thatâs the power of language.
Now Sydneyâs rising property prices and widening wealth gap is producing an increasing proportion of residents who may never move out of the rental market.
Rental representatives will need to be more proactive to ensure healthy (and potentially longer-term) landlord/tenant relationships. And âlandlordâ⊠thereâs another term that doesnât lend itself to developing a sense of community.
Perhaps attitudes need to change on both sides so landlords are seen as contributors of âhomesâ, not âlordsâ of âdwellingsâ or âhousing stockâ. And tenants are seen as, simply, âhomemakersâ.

The NSW government recently looked deeper into this problem, reviewing tenancy legislation but, much to the disappointment of tenantsâ advocates, decided not to do much. It made tenancy terminations easier for domestic violence victims but much stayed unchanged.
More reviews in the future will be inevitable.
At the moment the general consensus is, itâs âthe landlord’s decision on what they do with their property. Itâs their rightâ. More of the âus vs. themâ. And it doesnât open up the channels for new discussion.
These reports rejected limiting the amount/frequency rent could be increased. It supported ownersâ generalised âno petsâ stance, an irk of tenantsâ advocates and young families.
It all comes at a time when recalibrating our mindset could be the thing that changes attitudes and helps build a better sense of community, and improved connection for property owners.
Thereâs no value in bricks and mortar. Location has some worth. But history tells us that true richness is in our communities.
Letâs keep the ‘home’ at the heart of how we communicate.
