REVEALED: The people suffering housing stress in Gympie
PEOPLE hunting for a rental property in the Gympie region are best to have a $65,000 household income or not be single nor on a pension or benefits.
This is the upshot from the latest figures from the Rental Affordability Index, which calculates a region’s rental affordability relative to household incomes.
The latest RAI figures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic reveal renters in the Gympie region were at risk of experiencing housing stress unless they brought in at least $65,000 a year.
The index reported Gympie rentals were affordable or better across eight of the standard Australian household types, particularly single working parents, students in a sharehouse, and dual income couples with children.
The news was less good for single pensioners; the RAI rated the region “very unaffordable” for people on $30,000 looking for a one bedroom place to rent.
It was not much better for singles on benefits, who would find Gympie “unaffordable”.
These tenants were paying more than 30 per cent of their household incomes in rent, and were at risk of experiencing housing stress.
One bedroom households in the region did not become “affordable” until tenants earned $50,000 per year.
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People looking to rent a two-bedroomer needed a $55,000 household income, and “affordable” three and four bedroom homes were out of reach until income levels hit the $70,000 and $80,000 mark.
National Shelter executive officer Adrian Pisarski said the average regional Queensland rental household was paying about 24 per cent of its income in rent.
“We are seeing a movement away from the capital to regional centres which is tightening
rental affordability across regional Queensland,” Mr Pisarski said.
He said the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore and Noosa were generally moderately unaffordable to unaffordable; something that had continued to spred inland. Unaffordability has continued to spread inland from Noosa towards Pomona over the past 12 months.
“Despite Jobseeker being a welcome boost to many low-income renters, it was not enough to lift them out of rental stress” Mr Pisarski said.
“This shows the depth of our rental affordability problem, where even with additional
support, there is not one place in Australia where a Jobseeker recipient can rent affordably.”
“As we’ve seen in Victoria, there is a massive need for government investment in social and
affordable housing – and now is the time for it since borrowing costs are so low in Australia.
Without investment in this space, we are ignoring our responsibility to help people be
decently housed.
“Now is not the time to pass the buck of responsibility for building social housing between the Commonwealth and States; a truly national effort is required. If there is no action, the net
result of our housing system failures will be a dramatic increase in homelessness,” Mr
Pisarski said.
