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.
Welfare increases have given many Australians badly needed relief – but the private rental market is still failing people on the lowest incomes.
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.
This year we surveyed almost 70,000 rental listings across Australia and found that there is still a chronic shortage of affordable rentals across Australia – even after recent welfare increases.
That’s why Anglicare Australia is calling on the government to raise the rate of welfare payments for good.
We found that:
» 1,040 rentals (1.5%) are affordable for a person on the new Jobseeker payment (formerly Newstart), which has been doubled for six months in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic
» Without the increase, just 9 (0%) rentals across Australia would be affordable for jobseekers
» Without the increase, not a single rental listing would be affordable for jobseekers in the major cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin, or Canberra
» Pensioners and people with disability have been left behind with no increase to their payments
» Just 1% of rentals (743 out of 69,997) are affordable for a person on the Age Pension
» 0.5% of rentals (326 out of 69,997) are affordable for a person on the Disability Support Pension
» Download the full report (3.95mb)
