Steve Pountney and his family have been living in a bus parked in Perth bushland for three years due to a shortage of affordable housing. There were 1,400 people sleeping rough in and around Perth as of May, with just a fraction able to secure housing. Experts say the state government must invest in long-term rental relief alongside new home builds.
00:00On paper, Western Australia seems like a land of opportunity.
00:06Fuelled by mining wealth, a strong economy and a cashed up state government.
00:10But there's a different reality for many West Australians,
00:13who are struggling to survive amid the state's housing crisis.
00:16I want you to meet one of them.
00:18Thank you. You're killing?
00:20Steve Poutney and his family are living in a small bus in Perth's southeast.
00:24Just three years ago, Steve was living in Geraldton,
00:26earning good money as a FIFO worker and living in his own home.
00:29My son ended up coming to live with me,
00:31and we've got hard managing work and being there for my son,
00:34so I decided to stay home and be there for him.
00:37And the bank foreclosed on my mortgage.
00:41So the 52-year-old and his family moved to Perth in search of better opportunities.
00:46Every house we go to is like 50, 60 people there,
00:49and whoever, I don't know, whoever's got the better resume gets it.
00:53This is mainly our entertaining area.
00:55We have TVs when we've got enough power.
00:58Steve's family has been parked in this spot for two months,
01:01but we'll probably have to move again soon.
01:03So how did we get here?
01:05And where do we even begin trying to fix it?
01:08To help us explore some of those tough questions,
01:11I'm joined by Professor Stephen Rowley,
01:13who is the Director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute's Curtin Research Centre.
01:18I'm also joined by Deborah Zanella, who is the CEO of Rua Community Services,
01:23which provides support to people in need, and Steve Poutney, who you just heard from.
01:27Steve, just explain what is life like right now for you and your family?
01:31Oh, hard, daunting.
01:34Yeah, it's just not knowing what tomorrow's going to bring, I suppose.
01:39We've been looking now for three years and haven't even gotten on a short list of a house yet.
01:44It's blooming hard out there.
01:46We've been spending so much time travelling to and from houses and that just burns up.
01:51Just about all the money and fuel just to go and look at houses.
01:54So Deborah, to what extent is Steve's experience reflective of what you're seeing on the ground right now?
02:01The reality is that we cannot meet the demand of people who are requiring permanent housing.
02:07We are seeing more and more families who are living in their cars and working.
02:14And all that Steve describes is such a common experience.
02:19And the question is, we as a society, what do we do with that?
02:23And are we comfortable with Steve and his family living in a bus?
02:27Professor Rowley, how did we get to this point where people are living in buses and sheds?
02:32We have hundreds of people waiting in line for a rental. Where did we go wrong?
02:36Well, there's many, many factors.
02:38When it comes to public housing and social housing, we've been under-building for many, many years.
02:43In fact, the number of social housing dwellings actually fell until the last three years.
02:48So we need sustained and significant investment from government to boost social housing.
02:53But the problem we've got generally in the housing market is demand and supply just not in balance.
02:59Prices have doubled in the last four or five years.
03:02Rents have doubled in the last four or five years because you've got pressure not only from population growth,
03:07but from investment as well. And we're not simply building enough housing.
03:11So until we get that equation correct, reduced demand, increased supply, prices and rents are going to continue to rise and people are going to continue to struggle.
03:20So Deborah, what immediate and realistic things are needed to help West Australians like Steve?
03:26You know, there's the continued investment in housing.
03:29The other big thing that I think the state needs to do, and I'll probably get in real trouble for saying this,
03:34but I think it really needs to look at the way the housing waitlist is constructed and the way it is managed in our state.
03:40It is a waitlist. It's not necessarily triaged on need.
03:44Professor Rowley, we are seeing the Cook government throw lots of money into this issue, boosting housing supply,
03:52easing construction time, supporting social housing.
03:55But is that really enough to turn things around?
03:58They are trying, but ultimately you're relying on the private market to deliver new supply.
04:04And the private market is driven by profit.
04:07So we need governments to continue to invest in the bottom end.
04:12We need a product that plugs a gap between social housing and the bottom end of the private rental market.
04:17People on low incomes have been in a housing crisis for decades,
04:20but it's now starting to affect people on middle incomes, voters.
04:24And so it's become a housing crisis.
04:27I also think things like the rental relief program needs to be in place in perpetuity
04:32until the market becomes fair and equitable.
04:35So if we can stop the tide coming in and work with what we have,
04:39I think that would be a critical commitment from the Cook government.
04:43It is difficult to imagine that we've accepted this as a community,
04:47that people can live in their bus in a paddock without flowing water in 2025,
04:54in a country and in a state in particular that flourishes.
04:58So Steve, when you think about your future, say one year from now,
05:02what do you hope your living situation looks like?
05:06Oh, I hope to be in a house, actually.
05:08Like, you know, sitting in front of the TV, drinking a beer,
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