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Jacinta was from Ruby’s office. Only just met Noah and Jack, so proceeding cautiously. In a sense Noah and Jack were further up the power totem pole than Jacinta, but being from Ruby’s office she carried the mantel. Also Noah and Jack had a bit of a reputation, and they didn’t want to become known as the government’s bad boys.

“Meeting with the landlords.” Jacinta said. She was about twenty five. Very neatly dressed. Suit. Power dressing type thing.

“What, all of them?” Noah asked

“Of course not. A hall full. They will be on edge. They supported the previous government very strongly. There are precious few young landlords.” She continued.

“Some though.”

“Three percent. City wide.”

“We do the meet and greet. Do not fear your new rulers. All will be well. Don’t believe what you’ve heard about us. We really are not socialists.”

She grinned. “That would would be good, but that’s not all of it. You remember the policy.”

“Changing the balance.”

He should have paid more attention. Jack interjected.

“Stability. Once a renter has successfully completed a six month contract, only they have the option to terminate the contract. If the landlord wants to terminate, they have to find an equivalent rental for the tenant. European style.”

Jacinta grinned more widely. Impressed.

“Exactly. It’s an inversion. Along with the massive expansion in supply of rental properties. You remember the discussion on bringing rents down by at least 50%?”

Noah leaned back in his chair.

“They are going to be very unhappy. How do we calm them down?”

“Welcome to the new world. Learn to love your new rulers or get a canoe and paddle in the direction of the United States.”

They all laughed, and Noah and Jack were dismissed. Out on the street they were both quiet. Thinking it through as they headed in the direction of the meeting.

“We could just detain the lot of them as enemies of the state. Seize the properties and rent them out ourselves.” Noah said. Jack frowned.

“Yes, we could. Of course we could. A real incentive for new landlords to enter the system. Before you know it we are running every rental in the city. Nobody volunteers a property. We are running everything.”

“Why not?”

“Because we have better things to do with our time. You really want to go that way? One big housing office that runs everything?”

As if to focus their attention, they passed a homeless camp just next to the station at the corner of Collins Street and Swanston. In the shadow of a wall there were about ten campers. A loose pile of clothing, bedding. One or two of them recognised them.

“Way to go, Noah.” An old guy who had quite obviously been sleeping rough shouted out to him. Noah and Jack exchanged glances.

“Where is it?” he asked

“Northcote Town Hall.”

“The 86?”

“Yes.”

“World’s slowest tram ride.”

“The very same.”

“Have you checked? That it really is the world’s slowest tram ride?”

“No.”

“There is probably a really snaky route in Hiroshima that beats it.”

“No doubt.”

Noah checked in with Ruby’s office.

“We right to go?”

A quiet female voice, one of the many in her office replied.

“It’s looking clear at the moment. You will be met at the hall. You will need the codes.”

“Is this really necessary?”

“I’ll hand you over to Ruby for the lecture if you like.”

“No thanks.”

The tram turned sharp right at Gertrude St. Seeming to jump out of the tracks. But it always did that. True to the title claim their tram was held up by a series of traffic lights all the way down Smith Street. This was inner city central. Very New York like, with the expensive real estate on the left and the housing commission on the right. As if the very rich and the very poor had a preference for co-location.

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.”

Neither of them would ever 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?

“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 visited 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. 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 us 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 without notice, 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.”

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 to gain that.”

Now the troublesome group was being ushered out the side doors. As he continued, they were out of sight in the side chamber, where Jack was.

“I question your notion of value. When you buy or sell an asset it is to a community. We all together decide that value. The previous values are never going to return.”

The piercing sound of a single shot rang out from the chamber where the protestors had been taken. The whole room turned around in that direction. There was a look of panic on every face he could see, that quickly turned to very nasty anger. Noah’s heart rate was so fast that he was struggling to speak. He scanned the room, and took in the full intensity of the anger. Security was all over him, he was totally surrounded.

“If you have any questions, I will be here.”

Quickly he moved to the back of the stage and through the back doors to where the protestors were being held. He found that he was shaking.

Jack was standing, smiling as Noah entered.

“What the fuck?” he asked

“Bullet catcher.” Jack said, holding a box up, about the size of a loaf of bread. “Fire a single shot into it and just stops in the box.”

“Next time, can you tell me first?”

“Spoils the impact.”