Anglicare Rental Affordability Snapshot reveals no relief from Tasmanian housing crisis

Low-income renters have seen little relief from Tasmania’s rental crisis – even amid the COVID-19 pandemic – with less affordable properties up for lease than ever.

ALMOST 90 per cent of Tasmanian rental properties are unaffordable for those living on low incomes, a new national housing snapshot house found.

Anglicare will today release its 2020 Rental Affordability Snapshot as it calls for a permanent rise of the rate of welfare payments.

Taken on March 21 and 22, the Snapshot showed just 11 per cent of properties in Tasmania were affordable for those living on low incomes.

A property is considered affordable for low-income households if the rent is less than 30 per cent of their income. Across the state, 1291 properties were available for rent that weekend. However, only 145 of those were deemed affordable — a reduction of 67 properties since the same time last year.

If the Federal Government’s additional $550 coronavirus supplement was in effect that weekend, an additional 198 properties would have been considered appropriate and affordable for low income earners.

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The Snapshot also confirmed a chronic shortage of affordable rentals across Australia.

Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said welfare increases had given people badly needed relief, but the market was still failing people on the lowest incomes.

“We must raise the rate of these payments for good,” she said. “If they are halved in six months — and if pensioners and people with disability are left out — renters will be pushed even deeper into poverty and homelessness.

“We’re asking people to stay at home — so we must invest in homes for people who need them most. Nobody should be squeezed out of the market during a health emergency.

“Investing in housing would be the most powerful way to tackle the rental crisis — and boost our economy.”

Also outlined in the Snapshot were the struggles facing a number of Tasmanian Anglicare clients. Their names and some details were changed to protect their privacy. Allen and Jean live in the state’s South and both receive the Age Pension. They are also homeless. They can afford to pay $277 per week for rent, but across the state, there were just 37 properties that were affordable and appropriate.

“We’ve lived all our lives in Hobart and want to stay here,” Jean said. “But it seems we are too poor to get a rental. We’ll go almost anywhere.”