Brimbank may have some of Melbourne’s most affordable rental properties but this doesn’t make life easier for people on the breadline.
More than 60 per cent of houses offered for rent in Brimbank can be afforded by families living on the minimum wage. But less than two per cent of these rentals can be afforded by people relying on government income support.
Only Wyndham and Casey rank higher on the affordability scale, making these three areas havens for people who can’t afford to live elsewhere.
A new report has found many affordable areas also lack public transport and other social services, which further impacts on low-income households.
The Anglicare Australia Rental Affordability Snapshot 2015, released last month, found only 1.2 per cent of Melbourne’s rentals are within the price range of couples living on the age pension.
For singles earning the minimum wage, the situation is more dire, with only 0.4 per cent of rental properties available to them.
Coco Ho of Anglicare Australia believes the crisis in rental affordability is not acceptable.
“Housing is a fundamental human right,” Ms Ho said.
“We’re advocating for more affordable housing for lower income people. If they have access to housing, it makes getting jobs and travelling to interviews so much easier.”
Ms Ho criticised the federal government’s abolition of the Housing Supply Council in 2013.
The council supplied independent research to government on housing availability and affordability issues.
She said many housing support agencies had closed as a result of federal cuts over the past two years.
“Without these organisations, housing affordability is not going to be a priority issue,” Ms Ho said.
