The Catholic Leader - 7 May

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The Catholic Leader, May 7, 2017
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Stress through the roof
Annual survey shows house rents out
of reach for people on low incomes
Housing
stress: Low-
income
earners
continue
to face
significant
rental stress
if they have
to rely on
the private
rental
market in
Brisbane.
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Keeping Faith with You
By Mark Bowling
IN the run-up to this year’s Federal
Budget on May 9, an annual survey
shows that rental affordability for
low-income owners has reached
crisis point.
In Queensland, where more people rent than
in any other state, the
tal-
lies with evidence from the St Vincent de Paul
Society that low-income earners and welfare
recipients are being forced onto the streets be-
cause of high rents.
The St Vincent de Paul Society has just
opened Cornerstone at Southport on the Gold
Coast, an early-intervention centre to try to curb
increasing numbers of homeless.
“It has one of the highest percentages of
homeless people in Queensland,” the society’s
South Coast diocesan president Noel Sweeney
said.
“The Gold Coast is an expensive place to live.
The rents are very high.
“And people come here expecting to find
employment and there’s not.
“We’ve got 1400 people living rough each
night, families sleeping in cars, mainly women
and children escaping domestic violence.
“Our major focus is to keep people in accom-
modation.”
Recent data shows that one in six Gold Coast
households are experiencing housing stress and
are at risk of homelessness.
That data is mirrored by figures in the Angli-
care survey that found rent virtually unaffordable
for those on low incomes or welfare.
The Rental Affordibility Snapshot underlines
the inadequacy of welfare payments such as
Newstart and the desperation many low-income
families face just trying to pay for a roof over
their head.
Other issues are tied to finding a suitable home
to rent.
The Anglicare report assumes that a family
with two children would require a three-bedroom
property and that “share accommodation” is also
not suitable for couples or families except for
couples on an aged pension.
The report also assumes that, for a property to
be affordable, the rent should be less than 30 per
cent of household income.
In Brisbane, the snapshot found only house-
holds with at least two minimum wages can
afford to rent from the Brisbane private rental
market without placing themselves into undue
financial stress.
“Low-income earners continue to face sig-
nificant rental stress if they have to rely on the
private rental market in Brisbane,” the Anglicare
snapshot said.
“This is especially true for low-income earners
reliant on government allowances.”
The survey also looked at places in Central
Queensland – Rockhampton, Gladstone and
Emerald – which each recorded an increase in
the number of households on income support
payments, which is likely due to a downturn in
the region’s mining industry with flow-on ef-
fects to local businesses and therefore increased
unemployment.
The snapshot found 362 less properties avail-
able than in the same communities last year,
which may reflect a removal of properties from
the rental market as part of population changes
in response to the decline in the local economy.
Across Australia, Anglicare found that of the
67,651 dwellings available for rent on one week-
end last month, only six per cent were suitable
for households on government benefits.