Renters are on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic. Many are losing their incomes, and some are scared of being forced out of their homes.
Rent deferrals and eviction moratoriums are ending soon, and some people are in arrears for thousands of dollars. Many are facing cuts to JobSeeker at the same time. This is a ticking time bomb.
Nobody should be squeezed out of the market during a health emergency. It’s time to make sure that everyone has a place to call home.
Every year, Anglicare Australia tests if it is possible for people on low incomes to rent a home in the private market. We do this by taking a snapshot of the thousands of properties listed for rent on realestate.com.au. We test whether each property is affordable and suitable for people low incomes. The Snapshot is released each year in April.
This year, we’ve also released a special update to our Snapshot to show how the market is working in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. It was released in August.
The special update to our Rental Affordability Snapshot almost 77,000 rental listings across Australia and found that affordability has deteriorated since March – and that JobSeeker is the only thing keeping many renters afloat.
That’s why Anglicare Australia is calling on the government to raise the rate of welfare payments for good.
We found that:
» 808 rentals across Australia (1%) are affordable for a person on the new JobSeeker payment, which has been doubled for six months in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
» If the government cuts JobSeeker by $150 in September, 168 rentals (0.2%) would be affordable.
» If the government cuts JobSeeker to its old rate in December, just 13 rentals (0%) would be affordable.
» Pensioners and people with disability have been left behind with no increase to their payments
» Just 0.8% of rentals (625 out of 76,962) are affordable for a person on the Age Pension
» 0.3% of rentals (192 out of 76,962) are affordable for a person on the Disability Support Pension
» Download the full Snapshot Update (3.9mb)
