Advocates warn Aussies are in dire straits as rental affordability hits near zero
Frontline workers have warned an escalating rental crisis has triggered catastrophic conditions for Australians already doing it tough.


News.com.au
April 30, 2026

Frontline workers have warned Australians are already facing severe consequences of the escalating affordability crisis.

Anglicare Australia’s April 2026 Rental Affordability Snapshot has revealed a stark picture of the nation’s housing system, with affordability collapsing across the country.   


It examined 48,776 rental listings nationwide and found just one property across Australia was affordable for someone on JobSeeker. None were affordable for people on Youth Allowance.

Single pensioners are also being squeezed, with only 0.2 per cent of rentals deemed affordable for someone on the age pension.

Australians are increasingly being priced out of the rental market. 

Even full-time work is no longer a safeguard. A single minimum-wage worker could afford just 0.5 per cent of listings, while a couple on two minimum-wage incomes could afford only 14.8 per cent.

Frontline worker and St John’s Care manager Jason Haines said the situation had escalated to dire levels for many Australians.

“We keep saying that people are falling through the cracks, but let’s be honest, we’re actually working within the cracks,” he said on Thursday.

“We’re trying to get our way out, trying to work our way around the cracks, because there’s no longer falling. Some people are already in there.”

“People are sending their kids to school from cars. People are living on the street ... Things need to change.”


St John’s Care manager Jason Haines urged the federal government to listen to frontline workers and Australians doing it tough.
Anglicare executive director Kasy Chambers said many of those struggling spend “more than an affordable part of their income in rent”. This led to consequential issues like food insecurity, not being able to afford electricity or transport costs, she said.

But the sector was “ecstatic” at speculation federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers would scrap the 50 per cent capital gains discount in the upcoming federal budget, she said.

“We are ecstatic, (that) is probably even understating it, to think that this budget we might come out of that lockup knowing that CGT is going to be wound back, knowing that negative gear is going to be wound back,” she said.

“And we cannot not talk about the level of benefits, about JobSeeker, about Youth Allowance, about disability support and parenting pension. We need to see those increase to a proper level.”

The Albanese government is considering winding back the capital gains tax.

She later said the conversation around housing needed to pivot back to it being a fundamental “human right”.

“It’s very hard to send your kids to school if you’re doing that from a car … it’s difficult to manage your health if you’re doing that from a rental that has mould,” she said.   

“It’s difficult to manage your mental health if you don’t know when the rent is going to go up next and you don’t know how much by.
“It’s difficult to know when to enrol your child in next year’s school if you don’t know where you’re going to be next year.

“Those kind of things just don’t operate for a third of the society.”

Ex-Australian Public Service (APS) worker and renter Samira has an adult son with a disability and the family relies on her husband’s single income.

She recounted feeling like she had to give up her “dignity” by providing intimately personal details about her life for a rental application. Questions were far more invasive than those she answered for her APS security clearance, she said.

ACT local Samira says the rental crisis is ‘beyond a joke’. 

Too much inflation in the economy.
Inflating house prices and rents.

Too much government borrowing

Tax the investors, get rid of cgt concessions, get rid of negative gearing.
Stop just printing money and actually increase taxes.
Scrap the ndis, balance the budget. Stop using immigration as the lazy way to grow the economy.

Make the family home assessable for the old age pension


There are many ways to drive down house prices and rents.

Whinging sooking and complaining are not amongst them

aquascoot wrote on May 1^st, 2026 at 11:43am:


I don't see how these actions will reduce rents. My experience is that if the cost of investing in housing rises then sure as the sun comes up rents will rise. Investment in housing has to make a profit or no one would ever invest in housing, if no one invests in housing then people are going to find it hard to find a rental.

aquascoot wrote on May 1^st, 2026 at 11:43am:


Recently, sitting with our accountant, talking about how there may be some drastic changes we might hear with the upcoming budget this month.

I hear whispers for any new investors, of cgt deductions reducing to 25% rather than 50%.
As an investor I’ve noted diminished reductions over the last few years, where we were allowed travel deductions when we went to check houses and do repairs as we managed the rent ourselves.
Those travel expenses were wiped.
We’ve sold houses and paid a lot of tax on profits. No help from government that we took risks to buy, fix/renovate, pay interest on loans, hence we became self funded and collect no pension. We pay tax for others to enjoy retirement. We save our government from not giving any payments, except what deductions we can make in tax keeping the homes in good condition and having happy tenants.
And, we pay tax on rental income.
And land tax on top of rates.
So the guvment can kiss our derrières!
Many like us are/were an asset.
Lack of incentives might alter all that.
Who will bother to buy investments with rba rates now on increase, cgt on 75% of profit, etc
Very little with a lot of effort.

It will apply to new buyers of investment properties but may not start until next financial 2027/28 year I heard on grapevine. Any purchases before that are historical buys and are still eligible for cgt on 50% profit:
If so, this will cause a panic buying spree, there may not be enough properties to buy, competition might be fierce. And prices may go through the roof. And then the rba complains of rising inflation 
I’m just speculating. But every time the government interferes with something …..well, the old adage comes to mind, don’t fix it if it’s not broken.

My question is….if investors are shied away from buying properties to rent, who is going to supply houses for up and coming generations to rent?

Quote:


What world is that? Have we missed something there? No easy street in the world we live in. One may be envious of someone with an income source from investment, but some are envious of those on real easy street with security of getting big fat pension from guvment every week without fail.
That’s tax money we pay/provide.
Pensioners don’t have to pay a tax accountant to do tax returns, so that’s more savings for them. No stress. Oh what a feeling it must be.
We should be getting a pension, we all have worked and paid that extra 17% tax since 2nd WW that was supposed to furnish all tax payers with a pension. It was intentionally brought in for that sole purpose.
I believe in NZ everyone has that entitlement?
Not here in Oz. It was all lost in consolidated revenue. Buried!
This last rental property we have is getting $100 per week less than going rate, but as long as house is looked after, and tenant is grateful, and makes it easy to pay rent in time, it’s worth it. Recently spent thousands employing tradies to fix what needed fixing.
Helping workers make wages there.
What we did make as profit from investment sales, we have helped the kids towards their mortgage.
Pay tradespersons. Fence contractors. Tree trimmers (and then as a result of trees pay to have gutterings cleaned) Pay real estate agents fees. Pay taxes. We really have helped the world go round.
And guess who buys the houses we’ve sold?
Investors! There’s a new breed of them. I’ve seen a few houses sold near us that are not bought by new home owners, these houses are snapped up and rented very quickly!
This country still needs houses on the rental market. I get this feeling there’s a shortage.
So what’s going to be done about that? How are these places going to be availed for the up and coming generations? Or will they be stuck living at home with mum and dad?
I read what has been written having a bash at landlords, yet my question is still unanswered.

This is how I’m seeing it happen…rental affordability.
New breed of investors buy gorgeous large house for $1.6 mil with a pool and pool cleaner and gardener.
This 5 bedroom spacious home is bought to rent to 3 different tenants maybe they know each other or maybe not. The rent is $1100 a week. I thought no way!
Yet within 2 weeks was rented!
So 3 people split the rent 3 ways.
That’s affordability and house is so spacious the tenants don’t bump into each other.
This is smart renting.

Sir Grappler Truth Teller OAM wrote on May 2^nd, 2026 at 12:13am:


We all read the real estate market with different lenses. I follow the market in my area and a few others I follow to see where prices are going.

The thing I find wrong with this is that the cheapest homes to buy are to buy a block of land and build or buy a package home. This is what the majority of home buyers do. Do people really think that homes will be cheaper if you slug investors with more taxes. More money for the government and thats going to make housing cheaper.

Good luck to the renters finding a home after they drive out investors, no ones ever tried the government owning your homes before.