Support needed to help millions of Australian renters with rising cost of living, experts say
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Loading... - Henry Williams
- 08 Apr 2022
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If there was one clear message out of last week's federal budget — the government's springboard into an election campaign — it was tackling the cost of living.
The fuel excise has been halved, welfare recipients will receive one-off payments, and there is tax relief coming in a few months too.
On the housing front, schemes to help first-home buyers crack the market are being expanded dramatically, aimed at helping people buy with smaller deposits.
But there is a large group of Australians — including many of the country's poorest — who missed out on targeted relief.
One third of Australians are currently renting, making up 2.6 million households.
Currently, 14 per cent of them are experiencing rental stress, with more than 30 per cent of their income going to rent.
Some economists argue if the government wanted a cost effective measure to help ease cost of living pressures, it should focus on ways to assist renters across the country.
'It made me furious'
The morning after last week's federal budget, the Prime Minister was asked on Nine's Today Show why nothing was being done about rent relief.
Scott Morrison replied that there was.
"It's about Australians getting into homes," he said.
"The best way to support people who are renting a house is to help them buy a house."
Among those watching that interview was Chantelle Carr, who recently started renting in Kununurra, in WA's Kimberley region.
"I just felt that he was very out of touch, and has no idea about the cost of houses and the cost of rent," she said.
"On top of that, how can we save our money when all our money is going to rent?"
A woman wearing a t-shirt, shorts and sunglasses smiles on a river bank as the sun sets.
Chantelle Carr struggled to find an affordable place to rent in Kununurra.(Supplied: Chantelle Carr)
Ms Carr only recently moved the region from Victoria to take up a job in healthcare.
She said it was only through good luck, and word-of-mouth, that she found a place to live in the town's tight market.
"I either would have had to try my luck with finding a room in a share house, which weren't very common," she said.
"A lot of people were saying that you could live in their caravan, but that was also $250 a week.
"Or I would have had to have stayed in a cabin in one of the caravan parks long-term, which was nearly $400 a week, so nothing affordable."
Ms Carr said simply buying a house to solve her rental issues was not an option.
"No one I know would just go 'oh, great, we'll just go out and buy a house'," she said.
"They have to be settled in an area, they have to want to live there long term, they also have to have a permanent job.
"You can't really set up a life somewhere if you're not even offered permanent employment."
Rental stress worst in some key marginal seats
Unlike recent federal elections, housing policy is not shaping up as an area of major contest between Labor and the Coalition.
But an analysis of rental stress across the country conducted by the ABC shows it is a particularly acute problem in some politically critical areas. Read More...
