Rent rises force residents to seek help from charity for the first time

Not showering to save money on power, asking for food from charities - Bundaberg locals are facing poverty as rents and interest rates climb with one suburb increasing an astounding $130.

With the rent for her Avendell Heights unit taking 60 per cent of her pension, Sharon Anderson is struggling to pay for basic necessities.

With the rent for her Avendell Heights unit taking 60 per cent of her pension, Sharon Anderson is struggling to pay for basic necessities.

“I know it sounds awful, but I only ever shower every couple of days because I don’t want to use my hot water – because I’m scared that I’m not going to be able to afford my electricity bill,” she said.

To make matters worse, she was forced to make an emergency payment to replace the tyres on her car after they were slashed when the car was sitting in her driveway.

For the first time in her life, Mrs Anderson, 72, has been forced to seek charity in order to eat from day to day, taking regular meals at the Heritage Christian Centre.

Sharon Anderson regularly eats at the Heritage Christian Centre.

“I just went and had lunch at church today – I’ve got no food in my fridge,” she said.

“I’ve never ever in my lifetime of working had to suffer like this – I’m really struggling.”

While the $300 per week rent was a stretch when she first secured the unit in August 2022, it was the cheapest she could find after moving out from the house she had shared with her beloved husband, Henry.

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Mrs Anderson has been surviving on pension payments of $1064 a fortnight since Henry died suddenly in his sleep in 2000.

With the rent for her Avendell Heights unit taking 60 per cent of her pension, Sharon Anderson is struggling to pay for basic necessities.

“I was desperate,” Mrs Anderson said.

“I thought, OK, I might be able to cope with $300 – it’s a lot of money, but I’ll cope with it.”

Just four months later, with two months left on her lease, Mrs Anderson’s real estate agent informed her that the rent would be increased by $20 once the current lease expired in February 2023.

The agent sat with Mrs Anderson at her kitchen table until she signed a new 12-month lease at the higher rate, with the landlord free to increase the rent further at any time with two months’ notice.

According to exclusive new figures released by the Courier Mail, the median rent for units in Avenell Heights has increased by 12.5 per cent or $35 in the past 12 months, with rent for houses in the same suburb increasing by 17.81 per cent or $65.

And this is by no means the highest increase in the region – Cordalba has the fourth-highest rental increase in the state and highest in the Bundaberg region with a 43 per cent or $130 increase for rent on houses.

Beyond single-income tenants like Mrs Anderson, housing services have revealed that an increasing number of dual income families are struggling due to the increases making the payments unaffordable.

Regional Housing Limited has “seen a significant increase over the last 12 months in presentations from community members experiencing difficulty in managing the cost of rising rents”, chief operating officer Hannah Scott said.

“We are seeing more and more instances of dual income families struggling to maintain their required rental payments, which is making the possibility of renting for many lower income households unachievable,” Ms Scott said.

“We are seeing a severe shortfall in accommodation, meaning there simply isn’t enough supply of properties on the ground.

“This shortfall has allowed for a competitive market, offering the opportunity for investors to increase rents.”

With the rent for her Avendell Heights unit taking 60 per cent of her pension, Sharon Anderson is struggling to pay for basic necessities.

Mrs Anderson has another word for the “opportunity” taken by investors to increase rents in the current market.

“If that’s not (price) gouging, I don’t know what is,” she said.

“There’s people like us that suffer because we’re paying their mortgage for them.”

“And we’ll have to pay more because they’ve put themself in for more than what they can cope with – I just don‘t think it’s fair at all.”

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Mrs Anderson believes reform will only come through tenants banding together to take action.

“Unless us renters really, really stick together and we start something to say ‘we‘re just not going to do it’ – otherwise, I don’t know what to do,” she said.

“I really hope that we can make a difference – things have got to change because I don’t know how much further I can go on like this.”

Originally published as Rent rises force residents to seek help from charity for the first time