Calls for government to introduce rent caps as full time workers struggle to pay

ABC NEWS (Australia)

There are renewed calls for the state government to impose caps on rent, with an advocacy group claiming average rents have gone up twenty thousand dollars since 2021. The price squeeze is putting pressure on renters to look for other sources of income, or move back in with family as a last resort.

Transcript

00:00Crunching the numbers, single mother of two Vanessa Bishop is trying to stay afloat.

00:07It's a struggle, absolute struggle, like you definitely have to go without.

00:12She says in the past few years her rent has risen every six months,

00:16now swallowing more than 50% of her income.

00:19I was paying $400 a week when I first moved in and now currently paying $700.

00:24Even as a full-time flight attendant, Vanessa can't make ends meet.

00:28She's now looking for a second job.

00:31We've got people that are double income earners,

00:34people that are earning decent wages that cannot make rent.

00:39A new report by the Make Renting Fair Alliance found the proportion of rentals

00:43considered affordable, those below $500 a week,

00:47has tanked to only 20% of apartments and 3% of houses.

00:52The biggest rent increases have been in the Pilbara,

00:55up more than 500% in four years.

00:58According to the report,

01:00renters there are paying $55,000 a year more

01:04compared to the statewide average increase of $20,000.

01:08The Alliance is calling on the state government to introduce rent caps

01:12and reverse the onus onto landlords to prove why rent increases are justified.

01:17We'll continue to look at what we can do as well as make that investment into public housing

01:23that also lifts the pressure off public rentals.

01:26As the government looks for solutions, Vanessa's forced to look for other options.

01:32One thing we could possibly do is go and move back with my mum, which isn't ideal.

01:37You know, as a single mum with two boys, that's not ideal at all.

01:47I know that once...

01:48She's a little bit too much for the money that has been sold out.

01:50You know, that's not ideal at all.

01:54There is no methodical rentals.

01:55She says, how to sell the price,

01:56you know, to go out,

01:57you know,

01:58and I think that's a very big price.

01:59The price is a bad price.

02:00When you're losing the price.

02:01You don't have to pay in,

02:02so you know,

02:03you're losing the price.

02:04You know,

02:05you're losing the price.

02:06You can't pay.

02:07You can't pay that.

02:08You can pay,

02:09I don't let that.

02:11You can pay.

02:12You can pay.

02:13I don't give too much money.

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