‘System is so broken it is killing people’: Qld housing shame exposed

A tenant who asked for a rent freeze after a breast cancer diagnosis was told by a property manager the landlord had problems of their own.

Thirty-year-old doctor “Cat” at the housing inquiry in Brisbane. Picture: Liam Kidston

A tenant who asked for a rent freeze after a cancer diagnosis was told by their property manager the landlord had problems of their own.

But after later contacting the landlord directly she discovered they had not been informed of her illness, and was immediately offered an extension at the current rate.

The 30-year-old doctor, known only as Cat, was one of several Queenslanders who shared their stories at a federal housing inquiry in Brisbane on Wednesday.

She told how she had been slapped with a $70 rent increase early this year, shortly before being diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer.

She requested the agent pass on details of her condition to the landlord in a bid to be given a pause in the increase for the duration of her chemotherapy.

But the property agent said in an email: “I‘m sorry about this, however the owner has their own difficulty to face.”

Cat told the hearing: “For the next month while commencing cancer treatment, I had the additional stress of potentially becoming homeless mid-chemotherapy.”

When she eventually contacted the landlord directly, they said the agent had never informed her of the cancer diagnosis and immediately offered a six-month extension with no price increase. “For me, the realtor was the issue and continues to be,” Cat said.

Another highly educated woman, referred to as Jo when she fronted the Senate hearing, said she had been forced to stay with friends after being routinely squeezed out of rentals.

NDIS support co-ordinator Georgina Butler with client Harley Harris. Picture: Liam Kidston

“Despite my experience – I’m high-achieving, I’m completing a PhD working in a cutting-edge field building two businesses – but my ability to progress financially, professionally, personally is often slowed by the fact that I’ve had to move so many times,” she said.

“This system is so broken it is killing people, limiting the potential of others and seriously damaging the social cohesion of our society – the market requires a systematic overhaul.

“Please can you commit to giving everyone a fair go at securing a home.”

Another academic, who refused to be named, said her combined household income of $130,000 was not enough to afford rent near her university.

And NDIS participant Harley Harris pays $300 to live in a boarding house he said smells of urine.

His psychosocial recovery coach Georgina Butler, who appeared with him at the hearing, said Mr Harris had been rejected from 70 rental applications.

She said the conditions left Mr Harris with skin irritations and a golden staph infection.

“He pays $300 a week for this space,” she said.

The Senate committee hearing is considering commonwealth law reform to strengthen renters’ rights, but blame also fell on the state government, which advocates criticised for failing to construct sufficient social housing to ease the squeeze on the sector.

State Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon pointed the finger at the former federal Coalition government, which she said inflicted a decade of neglect on the sector.

QShelter executive director Fiona Caniglia said the state government’s supply of new social housing had not kept pace with community needs.

Queensland Council of Social Service chief executive Aimee McVeigh agreed: “Our population has grown at a rate that other jurisdictions have not, and at the same time, our government has failed to increase social housing stock across the last decade.”

Originally published as ‘System is so broken it is killing people’: Qld housing shame exposed