$110 per week: Inside the only rentals Aussies on Centrelink can afford
With rent prices climbing to record levels, Australians on welfare payments have very limited options. Would you want to live here?
Any Aussie renter would be able to tell you just how difficult finding a home has become but, for those who need the most help, the situation is dire.
A new report from Anglicare Australia revealed that, out of more than 45,000 rental listings across the country, only four were affordable for someone on JobSeeker and none could be afforded by someone on Youth Allowance.
“Each year, we think the market couldn’t get any worse. And each year, we’re shocked to see that it can,” Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said.
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“This year’s result is the worst we have ever seen for a person on the minimum wage, with affordability halving over the last year. This is the first time we have ever seen the number of affordable listings for a full-time minimum wage earner crash to below 1 per cent.
“If full-time wage earners are doing it tough, then people on Centrelink payments don’t stand a chance. Less than 1 per cent of rentals are affordable for a person on the age or disability support pensions. For a person out of work, it’s 0 per cent – and that includes the highest rate of rent assistance.”
What can someone on Centrelink afford?
Out of the four properties nationwide affordable for someone on JobSeeker, only one was located in a capital city.
This one bedroom in Sydney’s Cabramatta is available for $110 per week and is described as a semi-detached home. It has one bedroom, one bathroom and one car spot.
Another home, located a nearly-two-hour drive from Sydney’s CBD in Shortland, is also available for $110 per week.
It also has one bedroom and one bathroom and is a single room available in a nine-bedroom share house.
The third rental was located a whopping 5 hours and 52 minutes from the Sydney CBD in Barraba, also for $110 per week.
It appears to be a studio apartment but details of the property are scarce because the listing has been removed.
The fourth property was another room available inside a larger free-standing home in Home Hill Queensland - a 14-hour drive from the Brisbane CBD.
This room was also being rented out for $110 per week.
What is the maximum affordable rent for Aussies on Centrelink?
Household type | Payment Type | Maximum Affordable Rent per week |
Couple, two children | JobSeeker | $289.79 |
Single, two children | Parenting Payment Single | $254.77 |
Couple, no children | Age Pension | $259.62 |
Single, one child | Parenting Payment Single | $225.07 |
Single, one child | JobSeeker | $178.52 |
Single | Age Pension | $181.07 |
Single aged over 21 | Disability Support Pension | $181.07 |
Single | JobSeeker | $113.77 |
Single aged over 18 | Youth Allowance, Austudy | $88.55 |
Couple, two children | Minimum Wage (both adults) | $491.49 |
Single, two children | Minimum Wage | $328.92 |
Single | Minimum Wage | $212.54 |
Couple, two children | Minimum Wage and Parenting payment partnered | $385.88 |
Chambers said the best way to tackle the rental crisis was to build social and affordable rentals.
“The private market is failing people on low incomes. Even though Australia has built a record number of homes over the last 10 years, rents keep soaring. The best way to make rentals more affordable is to build social and affordable homes. Building general homes and hoping affordability will trickle down just isn’t working,” Chambers said.
“Our social housing shortfall has now ballooned to 640,000 social homes across Australia. Ending this shortfall will help people in the most severe rental stress, and free up the cheapest rentals for everybody else.
“If we do not tackle this shortfall, we do not stand a chance of ending rental stress in Australia.”
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