Someone surviving solely on Newstart or Youth Allowance payments has been entirely priced out of the Australian rental market, with a damning new study showing that person would be able to reasonably afford only three out of 66,000 properties for rent in March - 0.00004 percent.
Anglicare’s annual rental snapshot, released in April, paints a grim picture of the housing situation for those living on government welfare payments. The report found there were effectively zero affordable options for those on the age pension, disability pension, parenting payment, Newstart or Youth Allowance.
Anglicare looked at 66,424 properties advertised for rent on March 24, analysing the rental prices against the amounts available under those payments. Housing is generally deemed to be ‘affordable’ if it costs no more than 30 percent of a household’s income. Under that criteria, there were only two affordable properties in the country for someone on Youth Allowance, and just three for a Newstart recipient; only 413 for a single person with two kids on the parenting payment; 406 for someone on the disability pension; and just 2700 properties out of 66,000 were affordable for someone on the aged pension.
“I don’t know how much more critical it can get when you’re dealing with rates of zero,” Paul McDonald, CEO of Anglicare Victoria, told ten daily in April.
“Federal governments from both sides have been asleep at the wheel on this one for too long. This is now our most critical social infrastructure crisis.”
“These results illustrate the finding an affordable and suitable home to rent in the private market is extraordinarily challenging if you are a person receiving government income support, with just 5 percent of properties overall meeting these essential criteria,” the Anglicare report said. The report’s authors variously described the housing situation as ‘dire’, ‘cause for alarm’, and ‘extraordinary’.
“Renting in the private market is simply unaffordable for people on government income support, meaning to have a roof over their head, people on very low incomes are having to sacrifice other essential needs. Sadly, these results are no surprise to us.”
The rental snapshot also analysed how affordable the homes on offer on March 24 were for those on the minimum wage of $694 a week. Just 1805 properties, or 2.7 percent of the total available, were affordable for a single person on the minimum wage.
“Is Canberra a bubble? Have they lost the sense, the connection to real life drama that many families relate in relation to access to housing?” McDonald asked.
“They have a steadfast refusal, almost to the catatonic level, to look at increasing welfare benefits to allow these people to finance something affordable. They’re refusing to look at Newstart, which is well below the poverty line, yet people become impatient when they see homelessness on the street. You can’t have it both ways.”
“The feds need to see it as their job. That requires spending into social housing around the country, and upping our preparedness in higher unemployment places like rural Australia.”
https://tendaily.com.au/news/politics/a180426iwp/people-on-centrelink-can-afford-literally-zero-percent-of-rental-properties-in-australia-20180523
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