Affordable housing a distant memory in areas once considered cheap

Date
    September 8, 2014


Rent levels in Melbourne are seeing low-income families priced out of even the city's once affordable suburbs such as Dandenong and Frankston, a Senate inquiry into housing prices will hear on Tuesday.      

And with rent on a one-bedroom flat now topping $300 a week in suburbs including Balwyn and Brunswick, more must be done to create affordable options, housing groups say.

The Tenants Union is among a dozen housing, academic and community groups presenting on Tuesday at the Melbourne hearings of the Senate's inquiry into affordable housing.

Its policy officer James Bennett said rent levels in Melbourne were so high most people on welfare benefits would be lucky to find anywhere they could afford.

Department of Human Services data for "affordable lettings" in March 2014, the most recently available figures, shows 0.4 per cent of one-bedroom rentals and only 12 per cent of three-bedroom rentals were affordable in metropolitan Melbourne.

Affordable housing is usually defined as 30 per cent or less of household income going to cover the cost of rent or a mortgage.

Mr Bennett said all households receiving income support across Melbourne were likely to be beset by "housing stress", because of rising rents over the past decade.

"Rents are already too high for those receiving Newstart," he said, and federal spending cuts and changes to the welfare payment system meant "young people and families looking for work are increasingly precarious".      

Also presenting at Tuesday's hearing will be Council to Homeless Persons policy manager Sarah Toohey. She said the "safety valve" of public housing for those in financial trouble no longer worked.

"The average wait time for public housing for someone in priority need is 10 months, and if you can't get on that priority list, it's unlikely you will be housed," she said.

Ms Toohey said the suburbs that people on low incomes "used to go to look for affordable housing - Dandenong, Frankston, Preston" - no longer offer the same level of affordability.

She said suburbs like Dandenong would, a decade ago, have had eight in 10 properties affordable for those on Centrelink payments. Now it would be more like one in 10, she said.

"The private rental market is broken," Ms Toohey said, because "it doesn't provide to low-income households."

She said a decline in federal funding for public housing, and state government selloffs leading to 200 fewer dwellings this year, were making it harder for those on low incomes. The waiting list for public housing of 35,000 people had also barely moved under consecutive state governments, she said.

Among those lucky enough to get a public housing apartment was Donovan Willis, who spent a year in and out of homelessness last year, while also caring for his nine-year-old daughter.

"We couch surfed for a little while, then [housing agency] HomeGround put us in hotels for a while," Mr Willis said.

Homeground was finally able to get him and his daughter into the Richmond housing estate six months ago, after a long wait. "It has made life immeasurably easier - it's incredible," Mr Willis said. "It was just impossible on unemployment benefits ... rent in Melbourne is just absurd, [especially if you are] trying to raise a child."

RMIT urban policy expert Jago Dodson will also present to the Senate hearing and said Australia was failing to meet its obligation to provide everyone with access to housing they could afford.      

He said that while there was an oversupply in some areas, such as top-end apartments and homes, more affordable options had all but disappeared.

He said there had been a bipartisan political decision to accept a deregulated housing market, leaving the poor to fend for themselves. "People on very low incomes struggle in the private rental market, and there is virtually no policy measures in place to address their housing circumstances," he said.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/affordable-housing-a-distant-memory-in-areas-once-considered-cheap-20140908-10e1mo.html#ixzz3Cl3F0sJA

IMFULLOFIT could always get a job.  that tends to make housing more affordable!

This is an issue that will only get worse and is the responsibility of both parties.

It's too late to do anything now - the bubble is large, private debt is out of control and no-one cares.

gone wrote on Sep 9^th, 2014 at 7:45pm:



you could always get a job and ear *shock horror* MONEY and buy one yourself!

gone wrote on Sep 9^th, 2014 at 7:45pm:

It is more accurate to assert that the major parties are unwilling to address the issue because they both have many MPs who own investment properties. The average number of houses owned per MP in Federal Parliament is about four.

longweekend58 wrote on Sep 9^th, 2014 at 8:45pm:


At 8-10 times the average wage (compared with 2-3 way back when) - think I would rather rent and save the difference thanks.

Cousin employed as senior property manager for a major real estate company in Wagga Wagga.  In March 2014, 35 Chinese Nationalists were hosted by the company that had flown from Sydney to Wagga Wagga for the day. The specific reason was to buy property, and to rent the property back.   By the time they flew back to Sydney on their 5:00pm flight, 12 units and 28 homes had been sold.  Happy times for the real estate company!!

But not one unit or home was purchased under the terms for owner/occupier, they were all going to be leased back out.   This is happening in every town and suburb in Australia, and Australian politicians are allowing it to happen.  Then they tell the citizens there is a housing crisis and shortage, and the stupid people are buying the propaganda.   Well, maybe if they stopped the Chinese flying into Australia on 48 hour property buying sprees, then we wouldn't have a property and housing shortage - would we?   LOL

Wonder how long the "she'll be right, mate" attitude will last, before Aussies wake-up to what's happening in their own country.

Sir lastnail wrote on Sep 10^th, 2014 at 11:41am:


so you keep claiming, but you've never once put up any facts to support this claim ...