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https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/economy/2023/05/20/the-real-forces-driving-australias-rental-crisis>
"Four. That was the number of places available to rent in all of Australia,
affordable for a single person on JobSeeker, according to Anglicare Australia’s
2023 survey of 45,895 listings. All four were for rooms in share houses.
That “snapshot” was taken on March 17, before Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered
the federal budget, which raised the rate of JobSeeker by $40 a fortnight, or
$2.86 a day, and increased rental support. Anglicare ran the numbers again to
see how many people might be able to make rent as a result of that increase.
On Tuesday, at the National Press Club, executive director Kasy Chambers
presented the results: five. “Five out of 46,000. No one on government benefits
fared any better,” she said.
Chambers went on to make the point that it was not only those on benefits who
were priced out of the market. For the first time since Anglicare began taking
its snapshots 10 years ago, she said, “a single person working full-time on the
minimum wage could afford less than 1 per cent of all the rentals. That’s the
national picture.”
The housing crisis directly affects the great majority of Australians in one
way or another. According to the 2021 census, only 31 per cent own a home
outright – down from about 43 per cent in the mid 1990s. For this group, the
house price declines over the past couple of years are only paper losses. Even
they feel it, though, if they plan to renovate, which will expose them to the
soaring price of construction – up about 12 per cent last year.
Another 35 per cent have a mortgage and are feeling the strain of steep
interest rate rises to varying degrees, depending on the size and recency of
the debt taken on. But most, according to the Reserve Bank, are actually ahead
on their repayments. Only a minority – mostly young families in newly bought
dwellings – are in real financial strife.
That’s not to downplay their hardship, but it is the third group of
Australians, the roughly 31 per cent who are renters, who are really getting
screwed by the market. These people were the focus of Chambers’ Press Club
speech and of this story."
Via Clarice Boomshakala Bouvier.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
