Australians on the lowest incomes have been priced out of renting in almost every corner of the country, despite the Albanese Government’s recent 10 per cent increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance, a new report has found. Source: The Guardian.
To survive on welfare, Australians must now live in a share house for their whole lives, get into public housing or be forced into homelessness, according to the report from Everybody’s Home, which was released yesterday.
The report shows that virtually no region of Australia is affordable for a person living on the age pension, disability support pension, JobSeeker or parenting payment.
According to CoreLogic, the median weekly rent value across all Australian dwellings hit a fresh record high of $627 a week last quarter, with rental costs ranging from $770 a week in Sydney to $547 in Hobart.
Based on capital city rents, people on the Age Pension and Disability Support Pension would be left with $8 a day after paying rent, while a person on the minimum wage would be left with little over $25 a day. A person on JobSeeker would be left with $0 and have to find $122 on top of their income.
Maiy Azize, the spokesperson for Everybody’s Home, said: “There’s virtually nowhere in Australia for people on low incomes to afford a rental without falling into crippling housing stress.
“People on JobSeeker are being slammed by sky-high rents and payments below the poverty line – in many areas, they’d have to spend all their income plus find more cash just to make the weekly rent.”
On Friday, millions of Australians received a small bump to their payments, as payments were indexed and rent assistance was increased by 10 per cent.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the increase would offer some cost-of-living relief to those living on the bottom line.
FULL STORY
Matt lives in an affluent Brisbane suburb but can only afford one meal a day. A new report shows he’s not alone (By Cait Kelly, The Guardian)
