00:02Disability support worker Frances Teeler has had to move house seven times in the last year and a half.
00:09There just isn't anything.
00:11The cheapest place I've found for one person was $500.
00:16And that's half of my week's wages.
00:20Some, like Sydney-based aged care worker Mia, are looking to change career,
00:25saying her current wage simply isn't enough.
00:28It's everyday living expenses are getting worse.
00:32And fuel, public transport's the same, but it's overpacked and it's going to get even worse.
00:37That's a major problem, according to housing advocates,
00:40who are urging the federal government to take action before essential workers start disappearing.
00:45Based on rental listings available in March this year,
00:49Anglicare Australia looked at the affordability of housing for 16 essential worker groups.
00:54Hospitality workers and meat packers fared the worst with fewer than 1% of rental properties nationally qualifying as affordable.
01:02And even for the group with the most rentals fitting into the affordable category, only 3.3% of properties
01:08nationally fit the brief.
01:10People that we rely on to look after our children and our elderly relatives,
01:15to keep us healthy, to keep us safe and secure,
01:19those people won't be able to afford to live where we need them.
01:22Federal Housing Minister Claire O'Neill has conceded that for too many essential workers,
01:27affordable housing is out of reach,
01:29but says the government is set to deliver 55,000 affordable homes in the future.
