SACOSS cost of living report shows low-income renters in worsening plight

Even the cheapest suburbs in Adelaide are getting further out of reach for renters, a new report shows.

Rising house prices are increasing pressure on South Australians in rental homes as minimum wages and welfare payments fail to keep pace, a report by the SA Council of Social Service shows.

The problem was getting worse and the state government should invest in more public housing, SACOSS chief executive Ross Womersley said.

“While much of the public debate around housing affordability centres on homeowners and house prices, it is often renters that have the biggest affordability challenges – particularly those on the lowest incomes,” Mr Womersley said.

“The biggest thing the state government could do would be to invest in social housing.

“This would provide much-needed housing for those who otherwise struggle in the private market, but it would also provide an economic stimulus and increase the supply of rental properties – which could benefit all renters through less competition for properties and lower prices.”

Ross Womersley, chief executive of the South Australian Council of Social Service.

An SA Housing Trust house in Mansfield Park.

The cost of living report, published on Tuesday, found that in the cheapest Adelaide suburbs, the median rental was $300 a week for a 2-bedroom unit and $400 a week for a 3-bedroom house in the December 2021 quarter.

For a single age pensioner, paying that rent on a unit would take 54 per cent of their $555 a week income.

A single parent with two children, relying on JobSeeker while they look for work, would pay 57 per cent of their $694 a week income for a 3-bedroom house.

In the year to December 2021, the rental on a 3-bedroom house in Adelaide has increased by 11 per cent, or three times the pace of inflation.

The SACOSS analysis is consistent with the experience of cook Colleen Brady, 49, who is “exhausted and overwhelmed” after battling unsuccessfully for months to find a home.

Real Estate Institute of SA chief executive Barry Money said the high property prices were encouraging landlords to sell, decreasing the available rental homes and pushing up rental costs.

SACOSS is concerned by the fall in the proportion of public housing compared with the total number of homes in SA.

In 2000, one in 10 homes were publicly owned, but this has shrunk to about 6.5 per cent of homes.

“The result of this long-term decline is significant unmet need and a long waiting list for these houses,” SACOSS said.

“The public housing waiting list was 15,988 in June 2021.”

Public housing was not originally envisaged as simply a welfare measure for the most needy but rather as an intervention for the whole economy, SACOSS said.

It gave lower-paid workers a home, stimulated the economy through construction and maintenance and put downward pressure on rental for everybody by increasing supply.