Regional NSW rental affordability crisis fuelling youth homelessness

The cost of rental houses across the NSW North Coast has increased 20.4 per cent over the past year, second only to the south coast in terms of rent price increases across the state

Rental stress is fuelling youth homelessness, with a national campaign now underway to urge the Federal Government to increase investment in social housing. Photo: Unsplash/Christian Erfurt

The North Coast of NSW is fast becoming unaffordable to many renters, particularly young people, with rent prices rising significantly over the past year.

The region saw a 20.4 per cent increase in the cost of rental houses, one of the steepest increases seen in the state and second only to the NSW south coast, which saw rents rise by 25.7 per cent over the past year.

In just the past month, rents across the North Coast increased by 0.6 per cent.

The regional NSW rental affordability crisis has seen the creation of a new national campaign calling on the Federal Government to take action to make housing easier for young Australians to access by making an urgent investment in social housing.

“Young people who are forced to leave their homes, or are left without homes through no fault of their own, cannot simply get a job that pays them enough to afford adequate accommodation,” Everybody’s Home national spokeswoman Kate Colvin said.

“The rising cost of rental properties pushes stable housing further out of reach for young workers who are increasingly in housing stress.

“The housing affordability crisis is even more dire for those on Youth Allowance. A person on Youth Allowance looking for a share house can afford less than one per cent of rentals.

“Across all of Australia, just four rental listings out of 77,000 in December last year were affordable to someone on Youth Allowance.

“With youth unemployment at 12.9 per cent, many have no choice but to rely on welfare, but it is clearly not enough to secure housing.

“Further, the costs to the Australian economy of health services associated with young people experiencing homelessness is an average of $8,505 per person per year or $355 million across all young people aged 15-24 accessing Special Homelessness Services.

“Building social and affordable housing is crucial to ending youth homelessness and would be a major long-term cost-saving measure.”

• Broken Hill-Dubbo: 5.4 per cent increase over the past month, 12.5 per cent increase over the past year
• Blue Mountains: 4 per cent increase over the past month, 3.2 per cent increase over the past year
• Central Coast: 3.5 per cent increase over the past month, 5.5 per cent increase over the past year
• Hunter Region: 0.8 per cent increase over the past month, 7.8 per cent increase over the past year
• Murray region: 3.9 per cent increase over the past month, 11.6 per cent increase over the past year
• North Coast: 0.6 per cent increase over the past month, 20.4 per cent increase over the past year
• Riverina: 1.8 per cent increase over the past month, 15.7 per cent increase over the past year
• Tamworth: 0.2 per cent increase over the past month, 5.2 per cent increase over the past year
• Wollongong: 0.3 per cent increase over the past month, 5.6 per cent increase over the past year
• South Coast: 25.7 per cent increase over the past year
• Central Tablelands: 18.8 per cent increase over the past year