In news that will surprise pretty much no one, Australian capital cities are expensive as hell. But what may be more surprising to learn is that even rentals are now financially unsustainable for young people. Yep, say goodbye to your dreams of that lush inner city lifestyle.
Anglicare Australia released their annual Rental Affordability Snapshot today. The findings revealed some pretty surprising stuff about rental affordability in capital cities and regional centres. So, according to Anglicare Australia, people on Newstart or Youth Allowance are unable to afford rentals and have very few affordable options in share housing.
The snapshot analysed over 69,000 rental properties listed around the country in capital cities and regional centres on a weekend in March. In the entire country, they found only three rental properties or share houses that single people receiving financial assistance could afford.
So, what about a breakdown on the numbers. In any capital city or regional centre, only 317 rentals were affordable for a single person on the Disability Support Pension. A single parent with one child on Newstart could afford 75 rentals. Only two properties or share houses were affordable rentals for a single person on Newstart. Only one property or share house was an affordable rental for a single person on Youth Allowance. And finally, there were zero affordable rentals for a single person on either Youth Allowance or Newstart.
But even full-time workers job are being pushed out of the rental market. Of all the rentals looked at, only two percent were deemed affordable for a person with a full-time minimum wage job.
For over a decade, Anglicare Australia has been conducting these snapshots. And over that time affordable housing has been increasingly few and far between. But this isn’t just about students on financial assistance. Also being effected are people on disability pensions, single parents, and single income families. With almost 800,000 Australians on Youth Allowance or Newstart, this lack of affordable housing is a clear issue.
Look, it’s no secret that housing affordability in this country is out of whack, but this is just ridiculous. With the upcoming federal election just around the corner, it’s worthwhile taking a look at party policies around affordable housing and financial welfare.
Image source: GIPHY, NBC
