Rationale
Constant housing stress can contribute to health problems, stress on family and hardship. Housing stress is an important indicator of risk of homelessness, particularly for low-income households. It is an immediate need that must be addressed. Without suitable and affordable accommodation it is difficult to work with individuals and families on other financial needs.
Rent costs and housing prices have risen beyond income increases. This has shut people out of access to stable, secure and affordable housing and meant they struggle to stay housed, are forced to live in sub-standard homes and have difficulty covering other basic living costs. Renters on low incomes particularly struggle with housing affordability. Of the 204,000 SA renter households, nearly 60% were in the bottom two income quintiles. Of those low income renters, 32.4%, or 39,556 households, were in housing stress,
(spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs). Almost all of these were in private rentals.
Renting also creates additional costs that some homeowners can avoid. For instance, solar power and energy efficiency improvements like double-glazing or insulation are at the owner’s behest and are often not possible for renters. Tenants often have little choice and find that once in a home they face crippling energy bills due to the thermal inefficiency. It should be noted that low income renters receive a lower Cost of Living
Concession than homeowners on similar incomes.
Public housing provides homes for those left out of the housing market and adds market supply to make housing more affordable. Its construction provides economic stimulus in the short term and a store of public wealth in the long term. However, there is a substantial waiting list for public housing despite stock having declined over recent decades, and many houses being old and energy inefficient.
Recommendation
SAFCA asks the State Government to implement the recommendations made by SACOSS in their Rental Affordability Policy document.
