Family of four crams into one-bedroom flat amid housing crisis
Desperate Tasmanians are resorting to extreme lengths just to put a roof over their head, as an explosion in rental prices continues to bite.
Tasmania
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DESPERATE Tasmanians are resorting to extreme lengths just to put a roof over their head, as an explosion in rental prices continues to bite.
Many hundreds more are being forced to couch surf or live in unsuitable accommodation, including an example of a family of four living in a one-bedroom townhouse.
There are also fears families and individuals are being forced to accept substandard housing, potentially leaving them exposed to adverse health impacts.
It comes as the continued steep rise in the cost of a rental in Tasmania’s capital prices many out of the market.
At the higher end of the market, a three-bedroom penthouse in the Hobart CBD is currently available for rent for $1200 per week.
Meanwhile, a four-bedroom property at Blackmans Bay is being advertised for $990 a week,
The owners of respective homes at Sandy Bay and Richmond are seeking a weekly return of $800 and a five-bedroom property with views is advertised for $880 in Oakdowns.
Social welfare advocates say this has flow-on effects to affordability at the lower end of the market.
Shelter Tasmania chief executive Pattie Chugg said Hobart had experienced an 8.5 per cent increase in rents in the past 12 months, with the median rent now $499 per week.
Ms Chugg said there were 120,000 Tasmanians living below the poverty line and more than 4000 on the waiting list for social housing.
“Not everyone is in housing crisis, but there is such a low vacancy rate in the private rental market,’’ she said.
“Many people with higher incomes have taken up the more affordable stock, and as demand and competition increases, the hardship goes up the income scale.
“Unaffordable housing costs leave people with impossible choices about whether to heat their home, put food on the table or pay their rent.”
Tasmanian Council of Social Service chief executive Adrienne Picone said thousands more Tasmanians were finding themselves faced with an impenetrable private rental market that was simply out of their reach.
“What we’re seeing in the extreme lengths Tasmanians are going to in order to secure a roof over their heads, highlights what we already know: that there is a chronic undersupply of affordable housing in our state,’’ she said.
“Tasmanians are being left with no other alternative but to enter into unstable and unsuitable living arrangements just to get by, such as a family of four living in a one-bedroom townhouse. This is simply unsustainable.”
The state government has planned to build 3500 new affordable homes by 2027, but advocates say that would not be near enough to address current and future demand.
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