00:00 Well, the data shows exactly what so many renters know already all too well when they
00:06 look at their balances.
00:08 Some of the renters that I've been speaking to this morning who are really struggling
00:11 with the rising cost of living all across Australia really.
00:15 And we are seeing that in some areas across Australia, these are decade lows in terms
00:21 of rental affordability.
00:23 You've given a bit of an overview, but if we just take a snapshot at some of those areas,
00:27 for example, Perth, it used to be the most affordable city when it came to rents pre-pandemic.
00:32 However, we have seen some of the most significant falls in terms of rental affordability with
00:39 rental prices there going up by some 50% over the past three years.
00:45 And at the same time, average incomes have only increased by 12%.
00:50 And over in Sydney, which you say is one of those areas which is the least affordable
00:55 places to rent, taking up 29% of the average household income, well there we've seen rents
01:01 go up by $100 a week up to an average of $650 in the past year.
01:07 And we've only seen, that's been an 18% increase by the way, and we've only actually seen the
01:13 incomes go up at the same time by about 2.5%.
01:18 So really quite a difficult situation that is there for Sydneysiders as well.
01:25 In terms of the regions, if you think that you can go and do the green change and find
01:31 yourself somewhere more affordable, then think again, because those regions are also struggling
01:36 when it comes to rental affordability.
01:40 We're talking about not just Greater Brisbane, but regional Queensland, regional Victoria
01:44 and regional New South Wales that have got the lowest levels of rental affordability
01:48 since 2012, with 27 to 30% respectively of average income that is needed to actually
01:58 be able to put a roof over your head.
02:00 And in regional Queensland, which is the least affordable, that's where it's 30%.
02:05 Now that's the same threshold that is used for housing stress.
02:09 So what we're hearing from the authors of this report is that people obviously are trying
02:15 to go further afield, it's putting them further away from their jobs just to be able
02:20 to afford to rent, but so are so many other people.
02:24 And that means that with low vacancy rates, the landlords are also able to be able to
02:29 put up their rents and pass on all of those interest rate increases, which is only going
02:35 to get worse, unfortunately, with the recent 0.25% interest rate increase that we've just
02:41 seen.
02:42 So Stephanie, what can be done about it?
02:46 We've already heard from the head of ACOSS, Cassandra Goldie, saying that more needs to
02:50 be done right now.
02:52 Now that's been echoed as well by Emma Greenhalgh.
02:56 She is the CEO of National Shelter, who along with SGS Economics put out this report.
03:01 And she says that it's really important to be able to see just what this impact is on
03:06 low income householders, particularly, for example, those on JobSeeker.
03:11 They're now having to spend more than 75% of their average household income on simply
03:18 being able to rent a one bedroom unit in most capital cities in Australia.
03:23 And she says that many are at breaking point.
03:27 Disturbing is really the best way to put it.
03:30 That you know, that by being such a wealthy country, you know, that people are having
03:35 to spend all of their income to at least have a roof over their heads, you know, to be making
03:41 these really difficult decisions, you know, about whether they have shelter, have food,
03:46 you know, pay for their health costs.
03:49 So we really have to be doing, you know, much, much better for those who are on very low
03:55 and low incomes.
03:56 Yes, so that's Emma Greenhalgh, the CEO of National Shelter.
04:00 And she says that we've currently already got a rental subsidy situation in WA, which
04:07 has just recently passed out a $25 million program over 12 months.
04:12 And she'd like to see that instituted elsewhere, because obviously, there's Housing Australia
04:18 $10 billion future fund to be able to build affordable housing.
04:22 It's going to have quite a lag in terms of construction.
04:25 So help is needed right now for particularly those low income earners.
04:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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