Today, Anglicare Australia released their Rental Affordability Snapshot that shows the housing crisis is worse than ever.
Of 45,992 rental listings across Australia:
- 720 rentals (2%) were affordable for a person earning a full-time minimum wage
- 312 rentals (1%) were affordable for a person on the Age Pension
- 51 rentals (0%) were affordable for a person on the Disability Support Pension
- 7 rentals, (0%) all share houses, were affordable for a person on JobSeeker
- 1 share house (0%) was affordable for a person on Youth Allowance.
Action must be two fold:
- Significantly boost the social and affordable housing supply; we currently need 500,000 new social and affordable rentals across Australia
- Boost the Jobkeeper rate to $70 per day, to ensure people can cover the basics needed to live on.
The full report can be read here.
Compared to 2021, the supply of properties available to rent has significantly tightened by 38%, dropping from 74,226 to 45,992 properties, being a record low. The vacancy rate has halved from 2% to 1%.
This means that people on low incomes are competing with others on higher, more stable incomes to find a home. With rising inflation and stagnant wages, the outlook is dire for families and individuals living on low incomes.
We all have the right to a safe and affordable home. Unaffordable rent is a great burden on families and individuals trying to get by on low incomes. The massive shortfall in supply is pushing people into homelessness and leaving others perilously close to falling into homelessness.
All parties and candidates in the upcoming Federal Election must address this critical issue.
