Pensioners left behind in soaring rental market crisis

Older Australians are being left behind in a crippling housing crisis that’s making it near impossible for people across Australia to afford the price of renting a home.

The latest Anglicare Rental Affordability Snapshot surveyed over 74,000 rental listings across Australia and found that despite the Age Pension being one of the “most generous” government payments available, only 0.5 per cent of rental properties on the market were affordable for a single person on the Age Pension. The study found that while pensioners were one of the worst-off groups, other vulnerable people weren’t much better, including those on Disability Support Pensions, JobSeeker, Youth Allowance and workers earning the minimum wage.

“High and rising rents are pushing thousands of Australians into homelessness, including young people who can’t live safely at home, women and children escaping family violence, and low-income older people,” the report stated. “Our findings also matter enormously for the growing number of older Australians who rent.

“The most generous of government payments is the Age Pension. Yet for a couple living on the Age Pension, only 2 per cent of rentals were affordable. Single retirees have it even worse, with less than 1 per cent of listings left to compete for. At a time in their life when stability is more important than ever, more and more older people are stuck in expensive and insecure rentals.”

While the government offers Commonwealth Rent Assistance to those in need, Anglicare says that even with rent assistance or the Family Tax Benefit, many people are struggling in rentals they cannot afford, or can’t find affordable housing in an increasingly competitive climate.

“Our figures may be alarming, but even they do not tell the whole story. [The] plight is likely to be much worse than this snapshot shows. Nor can the snapshot consider the competition for each of these properties. In an overheated market, an affordable property can attract dozens of applications,” the report said.

Many older Australians are living between the proverbial ‘rock and a hard place’, either not being able to find a rental, or being unable to afford the one they do secure. The outcome, according to Anglicare, is that many people are facing the “impossible decision” of choosing between paying rent or buying food.

“Resourcefulness and sacrifice is the only thing keeping a roof over the heads of many Australians,” the report said.

“For too many people, paying the rent means they can’t afford to eat decent food, fill a prescription, pay for transport, or buy clothes.

“Unfortunately, this balancing act can only go on for so long. It can come to a crashing end when an unexpected bill comes in or when the rent increases. For these people the car, a friend’s sofa, a homelessness service, or even a tent in a squat becomes home. All of this is a wake-up call.”

Kasy Chambers, Anglicare executive director, said the solution will come from a federal government plan to address the shortfall of rental availability. The Anglicare report said in order to get ahead of that shortfall for the future, Anglicare’s Everybody’s Home campaign is calling for 500,000 social and affordable rentals to be made available to those in need. The national campaign to end homelessness is calling on the federal government to commit to building more social and affordable housing in the upcoming federal budget next month.

“These are the two primary causes of rental unaffordability,” Chambers said. “Instead of tackling them head-on, the government has left it to the private rental market to provide housing for more and more people. As our governments walk away from their responsibility to provide affordable housing and incomes, more people must fend for themselves in a market that is out of control. We need urgent action to turn this crisis around.

“It seems that even a global economic downturn has failed to make a dent in Australia’s rental crisis. As the Australian housing market continues to defy all assumptions, we must face the reality and the scale of this problem. We must find permanent and structural solutions to make sure that every Australian has the income they need to find a home, and to make sure that the homes are there to be found. It is time for governments to take real action, and ensure every Australian has a home.”