Photos reveal shocking reality of housing crisis

Solo tenants receiving government assistance have limited affordable property options, with no increases made for rent support or JobSeeker in this year’s budget.

The federal government raised the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 27 per cent in the previous two budgets, which is over and above inflation, according to Grattan Institute research. This year budget housing initiatives were more focused on homeownership, such as expanded eligibility criteria for the first home buyers’ Help to Buy scheme.

A studio in inner-city Darlinghurst is available to rent for $305 a week.Credit: Cubic Real Estate

“Every year that we don’t see that JobSeeker rise or that rise in rent assistance, it’s another year in which many Australians, you know, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Australians, are struggling to make ends meet,” said Brendan Coates, the institute’s economic policy program director.

In this year’s budget papers, the government said that combined with indexation, the maximum rates of rent assistance are 45 per cent higher since it came to office. At the same time, combined capital city house rents rose 25 per cent between June 2022 and September 2024 on Domain data.

JobSeeker is now $781.10 a fortnight for a single person with no children. In addition to this, tenants are eligible for a rent assistance payment, which varies depending on how much rent they pay. For example, to get the maximum rent assistance payment of $212 a fortnight, a single renter living alone must be paying at least $432.27 a fortnight in rent.

In only one town in Australia – Cobar, which is about 700 kilometres from Sydney – could tenants rent the typical unit for less than what they would need to get the maximum rent assistance payment. It has a median asking rent of $200 a week for a unit, on Domain data, and is the cheapest of analysed suburbs for renters in the country.

All other rental locations in Australia would leave tenants exceeding the level of fortnightly rent needed for them to get the maximum rent assistance payment. However, to get this level of assistance, a renter must pay at least 43.5 per cent of their income, including the assistance payment, on rent.

The second-cheapest location in the country is Stawell, in regional Victoria. The median weekly asking rent for units there sits at $235, Domain data shows. While renting in Stawell would gain for tenants the maximum rent assistance, it would still leave them spending about 47 per cent of their total income on rent.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says someone is in housing stress if their costs, such as rent or mortgage repayments, exceed 30 per cent of their gross income.

Sydney’s median unit asking rent hit $775 a week in September, up $55 from the same period a year earlier, while Melbourne rose $30 to $580 a week for the same period, Domain data shows. Brisbane’s median unit rent is $625, while Perth’s is $660.

This “self-contained bungalow” in Melbourne’s Doveton is available to rent for $230 a week. The listing encourages applicants to be quick.Credit: Just Realty International

Recent Grattan Institute research indicated a “cheap one-bedroom dwelling” in a major city would cost about $350 a week, Coates said.

A review of listings on Domain found scant affordable options for solo tenants, particularly those wanting to rent a non-shared dwelling in the Sydney region. Many properties listed at about $300 a week were boarding house-style options or rooms in private houses.

There was a studio in Sydney’s West Pennant Hills available for $195 a week. It was described in the listing as “unusual” and for the “budget conscious”.

This West Pennant Hills studio can be rented for $195 a week.Credit: Homefront Real Estate

Kasy Chambers, executive director at Anglicare Australia, said the “single biggest thing” any government could do to affect poverty was to raise support payments, adding that her organisation had spoken to people paying as much as 80 per cent of their income on private rent.

A studio apartment in Melbourne’s Preston is available to rent for $235 a week.Credit: Ray White Mill Park

“People, particularly parents, go without food. We see people who are typically skipping, you know, a meal a week, or … they’re eating two meals a day, and those meals are often not nutritious,” she said.

The renters who are on the lowest income are the ones that need support, said Maiy Azize, the national spokesperson for Everybody’s Home, a housing crisis campaign organisation.

”There’s really fierce competition for the most affordable rentals, and there just aren’t that many of them,” Azize said.

A granny flat in Quakers Hill is asking $320 a week in rent.Credit: Starr Partners Blacktown

Australia’s failure to plan for a growing population has the potential to make rents even more unaffordable, said Leo Patterson Ross, spokesperson for the National Association of Renters’ Organisations.

This West Footscray one-bedder with a “practical kitchen” is available to rent for $280 a week.Credit: Create Real Estate

“We would like to see the combination of JobSeeker and rent assistance, or JobSeeker or any other payment and rent assistance combined, be enough to raise people above the poverty line, including their housing costs,” he said.

“And that’s a big increase for both really.”

Grattan’s Coates said there was no evidence that past increases in rent assistance had lifted rents. He said the “overwhelming majority of rent assistance payments benefit renters, rather than landlords”.