Worrying new statistics out this week have revealed that those on low income or a pension are now more at risk of homelessness.
This is according to a report on rental affordability by Anglicare.
Across Ipswich there are only three of 608 properties surveyed available for people on unemployment benefits, aged pension, parenting payments or Austudy.
Those on minimum wage fared a little better with 191 properties available.
The report also revealed that due to the high costs of housing in Ipswich, many low income earners are using between 30 to 88 percent of their household budget to pay the rent.
National spokesperson for Everybody’s Home Maiy Azize said that Australia’s housing crisis has never been worse and that we are really becoming a country where only the very wealthy can avoid housing stress.
“What we can see is that people on Centrelink payments can’t really afford to rent anywhere.
“We are concerned that people who are out of work will find it really impossible to secure a job because if you can’t find a place to live and you can’t keep a roof over your head — it will become a vicious cycle,” she said.
Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said that this is an issue the federal government can no longer ignore.
“Australia used to have affordable housing between the 1940s right up until the mid-1980’s.
“The Australian Government used to provide a lot of housing, it used to build houses for rentals and also to sell.
“It really kept housing affordable with about one in three renting from the government and also one in four new builds at the high point were built by the federal government,” she said.
“What we’ve seen in the last four years is the government has completely walked away from housing itself – which is a huge mistake,” Ms Azize said.
Meanwhile, Federal Blair MP Shayne Neumann has defended the government saying that they have committed $25 billion on new housing investments – the biggest amount of money ever spent.
“The $10 billion Housing Australia Future fund that helps people from emergency services live close to where they work, women and children fleeing domestic and family violence, veterans as well as remote, rural and regional housing.
“The First Home Owners scheme and the $2 billion housing accelerator, which is providing thousands of social and affordable rentals for people,” he said.
“We have rolled out a number of projects in Ipswich in places like Goodna, Booval, North Ipswich and Redbank Plains and I know federal injections will mean much more will be built locally.
“But we need all levels of government to work together and we are playing catch up from the failure of the previous government,” Mr Neumann said.
To read the 2024 Anglicare Australia Rental Affordability Snapshot click the following link:
