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Anglicare’s latest Rental Affordability Snapshot, released yesterday, reveals that rentals in Australia are still as unaffordable as ever. The snapshot was taken on 21 March 2020, just before the Coronavirus supplement was introduced.

• 3% of properties available for rent were affordable and appropriate for households on government income support payments
• 22% were affordable for people earning the minimum wage
• 3 properties were affordable for people receiving the Youth Allowance
• 9 properties were affordable for people receiving Newstart
• 526 were affordable for a single person on the Aged Pension
• 245 were affordable and suitable for people on there Disability Support Pension

The document also calculates rental affordability if the Cornovirus supplement was permanent. The key results are:

• 624 properties were affordable for a person receiving Youth Allowance
• 1,040 properties were affordable for a person receiving the Jobseeker payment

For a couple with two children living on Jobseeker Payment, the number of properties that were affordable went from 589 without the Coronavirus supplement to 8,106 with the supplement.

The study clearly illustrates that we urgently need an increase in the supply of affordable rental properties across Australia, and that we must make the Coronavirus supplement a permanent supplement.

Read the report here.

This page is a ready-reckoner for each state and territory’s government web addresses for housing and homelessness services. Click on your State/Territory to find out more:

NSW

VICTORIA

QUEENSLAND

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

TASMANIA

NORTHERN TERRITORY

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

 

The NSW Parliament passed the NSW Modern Slavery Act 2018 in June 2018. The Act is yet to be proclaimed. The Legislative Council Standing Committee on Social Issues was tasked with examining the Act and to make recommendations based on their inquiry.

The report is now available. A number of recommendations have been made, including that the NSW Government:

• work with the Australian Government to harmonise the threshold for reporting with the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) to $50 million (currently the threshold in the Commonwealth Act is $100 million)
• develop a voluntary reporting mechanism for businesses falling under the $50 million threshold
• Give victims of acts of modern slavery access to recognition payments under the Victims Rights and Support Acts 2013
• Establish a working group to develop further amendments to the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007  to protect potential victims of forced marriage
• require local councils to have the same procurement and reporting obligations as NSW Government agencies
• take into account the comments and recommendations from this report, with the aim of the Act commencing by January 2021.

The report can be accessed here.

 

At the 58th Session of the Commission for Social Development, the priority theme was Affordable housing and social protection for all to address homelessness. One keynote speaker was former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, who gave a compelling address about homelessness, touching on her own family’s experience of homelessness as a child.  It’s well worth watching. Tune in at around 4 minutes 43 seconds.

 

The latest report from UNSW Social Policy Research Centre and ACOSS finds that despite economic growth in the last decade, poverty rates have remained much the same.

• More than 3.24 million people live below the poverty line
• 774,000 children under 15 are included in this figure

Child poverty has been consistently higher than overall poverty. Sadly, more than 1 in 6 children live in poverty in Australia.

Action to increase income support, to provide more social and affordable housing and more employment programs are urgently needed to lift people out of poverty.

Dr Cassandra Goldie, CEO of ACOSS says that supporting each other is who we are as a nation, but our economy is leaving people behind with persistently high poverty rates.

“People living in poverty include young people working to get their foot in the door of the competitive job market, single parents juggling caring responsibilities, and older people confronting age discrimination.

“The job market is changing, with jobs less secure and fewer entry-level jobs. Our housing costs are among the highest in the world and are locking people in poverty. For households of working age with the lowest incomes, average housing costs rose by 42% from 2005 to 2017

“It’s clear we must act to lift people out of poverty. The government can reduce poverty by boosting growth in jobs, increasing Newstart and Rent Assistance, and investing in social housing to ensure everyone has a safe place to call home.”

ACOSS is calling for an increase of $95 to Newstart and Youth Allowance; a $20 increase to Rent Assistance and the indexation of these payments to wages, as per the Age pension.

Join the campaign to increase the Newstart allowance here: Raise the Rate

The report can be accessed here.

Read the media release here.

 

 

Three of Australia’s leading housing academics, Hal Pawson, Vivienne Milligan and Judith Yates, recently released a book entitled Housing Policy In Australia: A Case for System Reform. The authors investigate the many factors that have made our housing system unaffordable for many Australians and brought about homelessness for many disadvantaged individuals and families.  They urgently call for  a fundamental system reform that:

1. Restores intragenerational and intergenerational equity in housing outcomes
2. Encourages additional housing affordable to low and moderate income earners
3. Discourages over-investment (and speculation) in land and housing
4. Counteracts the spatially polarising effects of housing market processes
5. Expands the non-market component of the housing system to better accommodate disadvantaged groups and insulates the system from market volatility.

Recommendations include the appointment of a dedicated housing minister at cabinet level, a national agency dedicated to overseeing housing policy, reform of tax breaks, affordable housing targets, long term and stable leases for renters and quality low cost housing.

Housing Policy in Australia: A Case for System Reform

Authors:
Hal Pawson (UNSW Sydney, Kensington, NSW Australia)
Vivienne Milligan (UNSW Sydney, Kensington, NSW Australia)
Judith Yates (University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW Australia)

Published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.

 

 

It’s estimated that if the NSW government invested $7.3 billion over the next decade in subsidising the building of 125,000 affordable homes closer to jobs and transport hubs, the investment would reap a $17.5 billion initial boost to the city’s economy over 40 years. And an additional 125,000 families or individuals would be living in safe, secure, permanent housing. And multitudes of people would be cutting their commute times, spending more time with family and friends. That’s a convincing argument!

Read more here

Executive Summary:

Full Report:

 

Yesterday, Anglicare released the Rental Affordability Snapshot, which provides information about the cost of rental accommodation across Australia. The report is produced each year in April, with data taken from local newspapers and real estate websites for rental accommodation.

The results reveal the dire situation for people looking for housing while on a low income.

In brief, of the 67,365 properties available for rent,

• 3 properties were deemed affordable for an individual on Newstart
• 2 properties were affordable for a person on Youth Allowance
• 833 properties were affordable for a person on an Age Pension
• 485 properties were affordable for a person on a Disability Support Pension.

View the report here.

These results paint a grim picture for people on low incomes searching for accommodation and reinforces the urgent need for more affordable housing across Australia.

Join the Everybody’s Home campaign,  calling on our Government to fix Australia’s broken housing system.

On Tuesday 5 May 2015, Sr Josie Byrnes RSM passed away. Sr Josie was a much loved member of the Sisters of Mercy, North Sydney, and an important person to the Mercy Foundation. Josie was instrumental in the establishment of this organisation. All of us here at the Foundation are saddened by her passing but remain grateful for her endeavours which have ensured over the past 25 years that the spirit of Catherine McAuley lives on.

In the late 1980s when the North Sydney Sisters of Mercy were looking to expand their commitment to eliminating poverty in our community, Sr Josie worked tirelessly to help establish this new Foundation. Since its establishment the Mercy Foundation has been able to assist many hundreds of organisations to address disadvantage, poverty and injustice.

We remember with gratitude Sr Josie Byrnes and the commitment and energy she so willingly gave to the Mercy Foundation over so many years.

Requiescat in pace.