Reprinted from the Courier Mail  21-1-13 (read it from their website here).
Let’s hope the Queensland state government re-establishes their commitment to tenant advocacy after the Commonwealth’s emergency funding runs out at the end of June.

Tiny French apartment houses man for 15 years, for $418 a week

A MAN who lives an apartment too small to even stand up straight in has been paying more than $400 a week for the tiny abode.

The apartment in Paris measures just 1.56 square metres, and has been home to the 50-year-old man, known only as Dominique, for the past 15 years.
His plight came to light after the man asked housing advocacy group Fondation Abbe Pierre for help dealing with his landlord, according to French news site NPR.
The advocacy group has published a photo of the tiny home, which has a skylight and a slanted roof, and said on its Twitter feed that “a person doesn’t stand correctly” in the space.
Dominique had reportedly been paying €330 a week to rent the cramped space.

The legal minimum size of an apartment in Paris is 9 square metres and an apartment must include a shower, according to Le Monde.

The owner of the apartment faces a court later this month and the door of the tiny apartment has been permanently shut, RTL reports.

The high rent demanded for the apartment, which has reportedly been managed by three different real estate agencies, is being touted as evidence of the excessive cost of renting in Paris.