Housing costs are hurting many

Vanguard February 2013
Bill F.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a report showing that many Australian households are suffering mortgage or rental stress, while more people languish on the public housing waiting list.

The report shows the number of households experiencing ‘moderate mortgage stress’, where more than 30% of gross household income is put towards housing costs, jumped from 900,000 in 1995 to more than 1.4 million in 2010. Those experiencing ‘severe housing stress’, where more than 50% of a household’s income is spent on mortgage or rent rose from 300,000 to 460,000.

Geoff Neideck, head of housing and homelessness for the Institute, said the report identified more than 500,000 of these households as low-income earners. “It’s important to differentiate between those households on low incomes, because that would have a considerable impact on people’s lifestyles and availability of income for other things … including necessities.”

Dr Cassandra Goldie, head of the Australian Council of Social Service, said the figures reflected what welfare agencies were also reporting. “The issue all the sector has identified as the major cause of poverty in Australia is the lack of affordable housing … It is well understood that we have a chronic lack of supply of low-cost and affordable housing for people on low and modest incomes, and we have predicted that this problem will continue to increase if we don’t try … to increase the supply of affordable housing.”

The report found a rising demand for public housing. There were more than 202,368 applicants waiting for public housing accommodation in June 2011, compared to a waiting list of 177,652 in June 2008. It also recorded a rise in demand for rental assistance in the year to June 2011, with more than 1.1 million households receiving help to pay their rent. Mr Neideck said young people were staying at home longer, with research showing about 3% of 25 to 34-year-olds continue to live in the family home.

The research revealed that the number of Australians who owned their own home outright had dropped from 42% in 1994-95 to 33% in 2009-10, while those paying off a mortgage rose from 30% to 36%.