‘Worst it’s been’: housing crisis floors the vulnerable
Lloyd Jones |
Julia has been forced to look at dropping full-time study so she can work and earn enough to afford a room in a share house as Australia’s housing crisis deepens.
The Brisbane student’s story is one example of the sacrifices people on low incomes are making to get by, with housing the big expense they struggle to cover.
The housing crisis is “the worst it’s ever been”, a leading charity has warned as it urges governments to step up and build.
Fewer than one in 100 full-time workers on the minimum wage can afford places to rent, the annual Rental Affordability Snapshot for Anglicare Australia has found.
It’s even grimmer for a person out of work, with the survey of more than 51,000 rental listings showing just three were affordable for someone on JobSeeker.
People on the lowest incomes “don’t stand a chance” and it was up to governments to step up instead of leaving housing to the private sector, Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said.
“The government spends eight times as much propping up private investors as it does on building homes for people who need them,” Ms Chambers said when releasing the annual snapshot.
“This approach is wrong and it’s supercharging rents and house prices.”
The snapshot surveyed 51,238 rental listings and found only 0.7 per cent were affordable for a person earning a full-time minimum wage and just 0.3 per cent were affordable for a person on the age pension.
Only 0.1 per cent were affordable for a person on the disability support pension while none were affordable for a person on JobSeeker or on the youth allowance.
Julia, a student on youth allowance, has been trying to find an affordable room in a share house in Brisbane.
“I want to focus on study, but I am looking at dropping to part-time so that I can work more hours. It’s the only way I can live,” she said.
Rent assistance doesn’t kick in for people on youth allowance until they are in rental stress and it works against people in share houses.
“I can’t get rent assistance unless I take on a bigger lease but that will only make things worse,” said Julia, who has received Anglicare emergency assistance.
“I feel like everything is geared against me studying to get ahead.”
More than a million low-income Australians were impacted by the rental crisis, Anglicare Sydney CEO Simon Miller told AAP.
“The really concerning thing is that the people who make our communities work, the heartbeat of our communities, the people in the care economy or hospitality, can no longer afford to rent,” he said.
Governments needed to commit to funding and building more affordable social housing, Mr Miller said, with 25,000 new homes needed in NSW over the next five years.
Cait, a single woman on JobSeeker trying to find a Sydney rental with her lease due to end, said it was impossible to find somewhere affordable.
“I’m applying for everything I can find but it’s looking bleak,” she said.
“I don’t know where I’m going to go.
“I’m thinking of setting up a crowdfunder to get some help, but the uncertainty is very stressful.”
AAP
