00:02It's not the retirement Bill Turner was hoping for.
00:05I thought I'd have a little roof over my own head and enjoy what years I've got left.
00:11In 2023, Bill lost his affordable housing.
00:14The rent of $188 all of a sudden bloomed out to $400 a week.
00:20The rental he'd been in for years no longer subsidised under the National Rental Affordability
00:25Scheme, a relic of a Rudd-era policy which paid incentives to build new homes and rent
00:31them for at least 20 per cent below market price for a decade.
00:34Now I'm in this shared accommodation, I never thought at 76 years of age I'd be there with
00:40six other people under the same roof.
00:43With around 1,500 homes in WA set to exit the National Scheme by June, Shelter WA wants the
00:50state government to supplement the shortfall.
00:52We'd really like to see a state-based model for that.
00:56We really feel that that would help retain some affordability in the market.
01:01The housing minister ruling that out, instead focusing on build-to-rent projects.
01:06So if I've got a substantial investment to be made, I would rather ensure that we build
01:13new stock and that it is secured into the future for community social and affordable housing.
01:22Rents in WA have more than doubled in the last five years, with statistics from Anglicare
01:28showing just 0.1 per cent of the market is affordable for a single pensioner.
01:32People of my age that are forever renters, the ones that have always rented, haven't
01:38got a hope in hell now.
01:39Bill is one of more than 2,000 West Australians over 67 on the public housing waitlist, alongside
01:46more than 20,000 other applicants desperate for a home.
01:51Bill is one of the most known 괜찮ableQUE
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