Victorian rent crisis: Victorian singles inundating social housing waitlist and pushed out of rental market

The Victorian Housing Register is overloaded with single-person households, causing experts call on the federal government to significantly raise Jobseeker payments as rents surge.

More than 47,600 single-person households were on the state’s social housing waitlist as of June 2023, representing 85 per cent of all new applications.

Victorian singles are being squeezed out of the state’s rental market — and with social housing inundated by demand — there are fears the cohort is being pushed closer to homelessness.

As of June 2023, more than 47,600 single-person households were on the state’s social housing waitlist — representing 85 per cent of all new applications.

A new report from the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA) has revealed for every single person they housed, Victoria’s social housing waitlist received another 1.8 new applications from individuals.

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Nine in 10 new applications to the state’s Priority Access List, usually only open to those escaping domestic violence or who are already homeless, are single people. One in 10 are families or couples.

And it’s not just low-income earners struggling to afford a roof over their head, with a typical apartment’s weekly rent now accounting for 35 per cent of the average Victorian wage.

A person or household is considered to be in rental stress when they spend 30 per cent of their income on their lease.

According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the state’s average weekly wage is $1489.80.

PropTrack records show median rental costs for a unit rose $70 to $520 a week across last year.

CHIA Victoria’s chief executive Sarah Toohey said cost of living pressures were driving more single people to seek social housing.

CHIA Victoria chief executive Sarah Toohey said as rents rose, demand for social housing among single people would continue to rise as income support failed to keep up.

“The housing crisis is burdening a broad spectrum of Victorians, but single people are disproportionately copping it,” Ms Toohey said.

“Rising rents and cost-of-living pressures are driving more and more single people to seek social housing.”

She added that while the federal government was in the midst of developing its National Housing and Homelessness Plan and promising cost-of-living relief this year, no one was having a harder time than those trying to survive on Jobseeker payments.

“There is no greater preventive against homelessness than alleviating poverty. Raising Jobseeker must be top of the list when it comes to cost-of-living relief,” she said.

Ms Toohey called on the Australian government to raise Jobseeker payments to $78 a day to help recipients cover their rents and assist the sector to build more social housing for single people. Or, offer an additional $60 a week to recipients.

The maximum fortnightly payment for single people with no children is $749.20 and those that are 55 or older and after nine continuous months on an income support payment, it’s $802.50.

This equates to around $53.51 and $57.32 a day.

Tenants Victoria chief executive Jennifer Beveridge called for a significant increase in the Jobseeker payment.

South Port Community Housing Group chief executive Charlie Beckley said in the past five years he hadn’t seen any rentals for someone receiving a Centrelink payment anywhere in the Port Phillip area where they operated.

“It’s really hard for anyone that’s trying to get housed in the area to find affordable housing,” Mr Beckley said.

“We’ve got to make our resources stretch further; what would really help is if the federal government did raise the rate of Jobseeker to $78 a day which would be in line with pension and other payments.

“It would just mean that more people in that category could get housing.”

Tenants Victoria chief executive Jennifer Beveridge said they had long called for a significant increase in the Jobseeker and Youth Allowance payment which remained “utterly inadequate” to meet basic expenses, including renting a home.

“For many people entirely reliant on these Centrelink payments or in low-paid jobs, renting is a permanent situation rather than a transition from their family home to home ownership,” Ms Beveridge said.

“Even renters on moderate incomes tell us they are struggling.

“The biggest group of renters who seek help from our financial counselling service are single people, including sole parents.”

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