New data shows skyrocketing rental prices have outpaced income growth in every regional area in Australia and all but one capital city. The figures are the worst on record and experts say the reality is even more dire.
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00:00The reality is really bad. I think this is the worst rental crisis we've seen and the evidence
00:09is clear. So the data that you have just quoted is based on median incomes and median rents.
00:17So we know that there are many people that are living in private rental that would ordinarily
00:23live in social or affordable housing. So these are households that are on very low incomes
00:30and so the housing rental stress that they are experiencing is extreme and severe.
00:37For some of those households, they could be paying between 50, 60 or 70% of their income
00:45in their rent. And for other people, we talk about housing rental stress being 30% or more
00:51of your income. For these people, they are feeling it very, very badly and they are, they're
00:58hurting. And they also don't see any light at the tunnel because their rents continue to
01:04go up and their wages are not keeping pace or their income is not keeping pace. So for
01:10many of these families, they live with fear of being evicted if they miss a rental payment.
01:17They also have to make choices every day about buying food. Can they afford to get their car
01:24fixed? Can they afford to, you know, buy their kids school uniforms? Really everyday things
01:30that they have to struggle and juggle with.
01:33And what are some of the individual stories you're hearing from on the ground?
01:36Well, on the ground, we hear many, many stories about, you know, families that are having to
01:43leave their rental property because the rent's gone up. So they search for another property.
01:49They have to compete with people on much higher incomes for that rental property because the
01:54demand is so high and the vacancy rates are so low. So children have to re-enroll at schools.
02:02It's very disruptive for families when they have to keep moving. It costs them every time they
02:08need to set up a new home. And then they have to do it again and again. I know of families that have
02:14moved between eight and 12 times with children. So this is not a society that Australia, one of the
02:21wealthiest countries in the world, we don't want to be a society like that. I'm sure that your viewers
02:27would not want to think of Australia as a society that does that to its residents.
02:33Yeah. And so how did we get to this? What are the factors that have led to this?
02:38Well, this rental crisis has not come about overnight. It has not just happened over the
02:44past couple of years. And National Shelter and SGS Economics have been publishing the Rental
02:50Affordability Index for 10 years. So 10 years ago, it was seen as a problem then. So this is
02:58brought about by decades of policy and action and housing not being seen as important. It isn't
03:06seen as important, you know, in a policy sense. And it's not seen as something that can deliver
03:13social and economic infrastructure. Importantly, housing is not seen as a means to providing a home.
03:20We are seeing housing in Australia as a means of wealth creation and the government incentives that
03:28are currently available, including negative gearing, capital gains tax discounts. They are
03:35fueling investment. So we are creating housing, a housing system that is more about assets and wealth
03:41rather than security for a home, for a family or an individual. So we're in the middle of an election
03:48campaign. Can you see anything from the major parties that will transform this situation? Or are you
03:55keen to see a minority government with other parties able to influence policy in this area?
04:02Well, I think that some of the policies, commitments and investments that have been made by the current
04:09government and some of the commitments in the election are actually demonstrating that they are
04:14looking at, you know, taking this very seriously. But National Shelter and other advocates are also
04:21saying we still need to do more. We need to tighten regulation of, you know, there are lack of rent
04:29controls which favour landlords that don't provide protections for tenants. So there are some policies
04:36in place that the current government has introduced. But that really does need to be strengthened. And we
04:42need accountability from every state and territory to protect renters. The Housing Australia Future Fund is
04:50starting to build a lot of momentum. And that has got confidence and certainty from all of the market
04:58partners, the community housing sector that are delivering those social and affordable homes.
05:03That is a policy that we need to see grow and expand. And we need bipartisan support for that. We do not,
05:11you know, we don't want to be building something as critical as delivering social housing
05:16on the ground across Australia and then actually cut that loose and dismantle that because that would
05:23take a long time to build certainty, particularly confidence from institutional finance and the
05:30construction industry to get back on track with an alternative programme. So we need to keep the current
05:37policies that are in place growing and continuing. But also, we need to expand them so that
05:44the housing that is needed, which is currently about 640,000 social and affordable homes across
05:53Australia, we need to keep that momentum and that programme rolling and we need to expand that
06:00investment. Yeah. And so you've just run through policies there. But just very briefly, is the elephant
06:04in the room, negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, from your perspective, must that be addressed?
06:11Absolutely. Yeah. National shelter in its five point policy platform, we are asking for serious
06:20review and reform of negative gearing and capital gains discounts. And any tax savings from that
06:27reform should be reinvested back into social and affordable housing so that we have a much fairer,
06:34more equitable housing system that is healthy and can actually deliver housing for all Australians in need.