No-fault homelessness on the rise, housing services overwhelmed—Anglicare report confirms rental situation worsening in Riverina

Anglicare Australia’s Rental Affordability Snapshot (RAS), released this week, reveals a familiar trend. Despite a recent interest rate cut, and relief in sight for mortgage holders, availability for renters continues to worsen—and for those on low incomes the situation is beyond dire.

“I am terrified for some of my clients”, said Melinda, an Anglicare NSW South, NSW West & ACT Housing and Homelessness Case Manager. “Housing (NSW) is overwhelmed. We are overwhelmed. Community housing options are far too limited and temporary accommodation in motels is often full. Last week a retired women in her late 60s, currently undergoing cancer treatment, had nowhere to stay but her car.”

Devastating stories like this reflect the harsh conclusions of this year’s RAS. The report, which annually evaluates the availability of affordable rental properties for households on low incomes confirms that across the region, and the country, the rental situation has become impossible for those on low incomes.

RAS figures show:

• For a single person on JobSeeker, just three properties would be affordable nationwide.
• Nothing would be affordable for someone receiving Youth Allowance.
• Single people on the Disability Support Pension or Age Pension could afford 0.1 and 0.3 percent of properties.

In the greater Wagga Wagga region, rental rates have increased 43% over the past five years, according to analysis from realestate.com.au. Population growth, extremely low vacancy rates and a stagnant housing supply have resulted in a rental environment that is utterly untenable for those on low incomes.

Large infrastructure projects in the area have compounded the already challenging situation; reducing vacancy rates to below .05%, further increasing rental rates and devastating housing prospects for local families.

Anglicare Financial Counsellor, Chris Heckenberg, has been working with one such local family living in a small town near Tumut. “The family had always paid their rent on time and took great care of the property, maintaining the house, garden, and lawns meticulously,” said Chris. “They had built a strong relationship with their landlord, who often praised them as tenants and assured them of their rental security.”

So, it came as a devastating and unexpected blow when they were issued with a notice to vacate. “The landlord explained that one of the large infrastructure projects offered him twice what they were paying in rent,” Chris added.

With no affordable rental options available in the region, the family—parents and five children—were left with few choices. They briefly considered moving into a caravan park, but winter temperatures and safety concerns made this option unsuitable for young children.

In a last resort, the family shared their situation on social media, despite feeling deeply embarrassed. The post led to an offer of a small two-bedroom flat located in someone’s backyard.

“The living conditions are far from ideal,” said Chris. “Seven people are now squeezed into a cramped, run-down unit, but it’s a better alternative than enduring a mountain winter in a caravan.”

According to this year’s Snapshot, across the entire Riverina region, 0-3% of rental listings were appropriate and affordable for a family surviving on income support payments, with 0-1% for a single person with or without children. 

This ongoing epidemic of unaffordability means that services like Anglicare are faced with a concerning rise in client numbers. Already this financial year our Housing and Homelessness services have assisted nearly double the number of clients we are funded to support.

“The private rental market hasn’t been working for a long time”, said Anglicare Australia CEO Kasy Chambers. “We need to be calling on the government to be ambitious on this. Every year it gets worse and every year it gets harder to meet the shortfall and fill this chasm.”

While not for profits like Anglicare continue to provide advocacy and essential support to those in crisis, the severity of the current housing situation is staggering, and for renters the situation is not improving.

We remain hopeful that state and federal governments will support community services in meeting immediate demand by increasing funding for specialist crisis and homelessness services now, while simultaneously working to find lasting and sustainable solutions to address the underlying housing problem.