Photos reveal shocking reality of housing crisison March 26, 2025 at 4:50 am

MAK Gojar

10 months ago

Finding a property to rent solo is a pipe dream for tenants on a budget, and listings lay bare the reality of their search.

By Alice Uribe

March 26, 2025 — 2.50pm

, register or subscribe to save articles for later.

Solo tenants receiving government assistance have limited affordable property options, with no increases made for rent support or JobSeeker in this year’s budget.

The federal government raised the maximum rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 27 per cent in the previous two budgets, which is over and above inflation, according to Grattan Institute research. This year budget housing initiatives were more focused on home ownership, such as expanded eligibility criteria for the first home buyers’ Help to Buy scheme.

A studio for rent in inner-city Darlinghurst available for $305 per week.Credit: Cubic Real Estate

A studio for rent in inner-city Darlinghurst available for $305 per week.Credit: Cubic Real Estate

“Every year that we don’t see that JobSeeker rise or that rise in rent assistance, it’s another year in which many Australians, you know, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Australians, are struggling to make ends meet,” said Brendan Coates, the economic policy program director at the Grattan Institute.

In this year’s budget papers, the government said combined with indexation, the maximum rates of rent assistance are 45 per cent higher since it came into office. At the same time, combined capital city house rents have jumped 25 per cent from June 2022 to September 2024, according to Domain data.

JobSeeker is currently $781.10 a fortnight for a single person with no children. In addition to this, tenants are also eligible for a rent assistance payment. This varies depending on how much rent they pay. For example, to get the maximum rent assistance payment of $212 a fortnight, a single renter living alone must be paying at least $432.27 a fortnight in rent.

In only one town in Australia, Cobar, which is about 700 kilometres from Sydney, could tenants rent the typical unit for less than what would be needed to get the maximum rent assistance payment. It has a median asking rent of $200 a week for a unit, on Domain data and is the cheapest of analysed suburbs for renters in the country.

All other rental locations in Australia would see tenants exceed the level of fortnightly rent needed for them to get the maximum rent assistance payment. But, to get this level of assistance, a renter must pay at least 43.5 per cent of their income, which includes the assistance payment, on rent.

The second-cheapest location in the country is Stawell in regional Victoria. The median weekly asking rents for units there sit at $235 a week, according to Domain. While renting there would see tenants getting the maximum rent assistance, it would still mean they are spending around 47 per cent of their total income on rent.

The ABS considers someone to be in housing stress if their costs, such as rent or mortgage repayments, are more than 30 per cent of their gross income.

Sydney’s median unit asking rent hit $775 a week in September, up $55 compared to the same time the previous year, while Melbourne rose $30 to $580 a week for the same time period, according to Domain data. Brisbane’s median unit rent is $625, and Perth’s is $660.

This “self-contained bungalow” in Melbourne’s Doveton is for rent for $230 per week, and the listing encourages applicants to be quick.Credit: Just Realty International

Recent Grattan Institute research indicated a “cheap one-bedroom dwelling” in a major city would cost about $350 a week, said Coates.

A review of listings on Domain found scant affordable options for solo tenants, particularly for those wanting to rent a non-shared dwelling in the Sydney region. Many properties listed at around $300 per week were boarding house-style options or rooms in private houses.

There was a studio in Sydney’s West Pennant Hills available for $195 per week. It was described in the listing as “unusual,” and for the “budget conscious.”

This West Pennant Hills studio is for rent for $195 per week.Credit: Homefront Real Estate

Kasy Chambers, executive director at Anglicare Australia said the “single biggest thing” any government could do to affect poverty was to raise support payments, adding that her organisation had spoken to people paying as much as 80 per cent of their income on private rent.

A studio apartment in Melbourne’s Preston is for rent for $235 a week.Credit: Ray White Mill Park

“People, particularly parents, go without food. We see people who are typically skipping, you know, a meal a week, or … they’re eating two meals a day, and those meals are often not nutritious,” she said.

The renters who are on the lowest income are the ones that need support, said housing crisis campaign organisation Everybody’s Home national spokesperson Maiy Azize.

“There’s really fierce competition for the most affordable rentals, and there just aren’t that many of them,” she said.

A granny flat in Quakers Hill is asking $320 per week.Credit: Starr Partners Blacktown

Australia’s growing population has the potential to make rents even more unaffordable, said Leo Patterson Ross, the spokesperson for the National Association of Renters’ Organisations.

This West Footscray one-bedroom is advertised with a “practical kitchen” for $280 a week.Credit: Create Real Estate

“We would like to see the combination of JobSeeker and rent assistance, or JobSeeker or any other payment and rent assistance combined, be enough to raise people above the poverty line, including their housing costs,” he said.

“And that’s a big increase for both really.”

Grattan’s Coates said there was no evidence that past increases in rent assistance had lifted rents. He said the “overwhelming majority of rent assistance payments benefit renters, rather than landlords”.