Housing woes worsen for Victoria’s vulnerable young people

MEDIA RELEASE, Monday, April 29TH, 2019.

The full report is attached. Further enquiries contact:  Anglicare Victoria media: Mob: 0419 035 117.

Only one in 50 rental properties are affordable for Victorian households living on income support payments, leaving vulnerable Victorians virtually locked out of the property market.

Anglicare Victoria’s annual Rental Affordability Snapshot has found households on welfare payments has worsened since the last 12 months are struggling to find affordable housing.

For nine years, the Anglicare Australia snapshot has documented a decline in rental affordability across Australia. Among the 15,750 Victorian rental properties reviewed for this report:

  • 2% of properties (274) were suitable for at least one household type living on income support. (This compares to 3.1 per cent in 2018)
  • 28% of properties (4,487) were suitable for at least one household type living on minimum wage. (Compared to 29.5% in 2018)
  • Single people (with and without children) on income support or a pension, continue to be the most disadvantaged group.
  • Single people on minimum wage have access to only 1% (123) of suitable rental properties.

In metropolitan Melbourne, only 0.6% of properties were suitable for households on income support payments, while only one in four were suitable for households on the minimum wage.

Anglicare Victoria is calling on state and federal governments to take urgent action to tackle homelessness, create a fairer rental market and increase welfare payments, including Commonwealth rental assistance.

This snapshot also provides more evidence that the Victorian Government should provide essential support to all 18-21 year olds leaving out-of-home care.

“At the end of the day everyone deserves to have a safe, affordable place to call home and should not have to go without food, paying the bills or other essentials to pay for their rent”, Anglicare Victoria chief executive Paul McDonald said.

“There’s a critical shortage of affordable homes for young people on youth allowance and on Newstart and for sole parents. Not being able to secure a rental forces many people into homelessness and resorting to inappropriate, unsafe and insecure housing.”

Anglicare Victoria is urging the government to invest more in targeted social and public housing and increase the rate of Youth and Newstart allowances.

Anglicare Victoria is calling on state and federal governments to take urgent action to tackle homelessness, increase state-funded out of home care (Home Stretch) making it available to more young people up to 21 years of age, create a fairer rental market and increase welfare payments, including Commonwealth rental assistance and look at other innovative funding models such as Social Impact Bonds.

Read the full Victorian report here

About the Anglicare Rental Affordability Snapshot

Anglicare Victoria’s 2019 Rental Affordability Snapshot (RAS) was conducted as part of the national Snapshot undertaken by Anglicare Australia. This is the 9th consecutive annual Snapshot for Anglicare Victoria. The RAS examined how much access people on low incomes have to the private rental market. Anglicare Victoria’s 2019 RAS was part of the national project and covered 48 local government areas (LGAs) in metropolitan Melbourne and Victorian rural, regional and coastal areas, where we offer services.

It examined 15,750 private rental listings and calculated what proportion were suitable for households on either minimum wage, a Commonwealth pension or income support. To be suitable, a property had to offer enough bedrooms and cost less than 30% of a household’s total income, since paying more indicates housing stress. (Please see attached report for full methodology and figures.)

 

 

 

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