Advocates warn that the nation’s housing crisis is getting worse, with a survey of hundreds of renters revealing the majority are now under “housing stress”. Source: ABC News.
The survey by campaign group Everybody’s Home, which has a number of Catholic campaign partners, shows four out of five renters are spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing.
Experts often use this threshold when considering housing affordability, particularly for low-income households.
“Rents have been surging for more than a decade and we’re at a point where people can’t keep absorbing them,” Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said.
The report, called Brutal Reality, surveyed more than 700 people. Among renters and mortgagees combined, it found 75 per cent of people are scared about their financial security because of the housing crisis.
Ms Azize said some states and territories had tried to limit rent increases, but those measures had not gone far enough.
“[Governments should] limit these unfair rent increases, end no-cause evictions, improve rental standards for people. All of those things came through in our survey and all of those things are places where the federal Government is missing in action.”
The report also stated two-thirds of renters said the accommodation crisis was affecting their mental health.
Ms Azize criticised the Albanese Government’s Housing Australia Future Fund, saying it would provide a fraction of the housing needed.
Housing Minister Julie Collins provided a statement, saying the Housing Australia Future Fund would make a difference. She also said the Government’s new $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator would help deliver thousands of new homes across Australia.
FULL STORY
Housing stress affecting growing number of Australians, survey finds, amid calls for action (By Stephanie Smail and David Sparkes, ABC News)
