Essential workers priced out of almost entire Australian rental market, new report finds

Australians working full-time in essential services are being priced out of almost the entire rental market, with a new Anglicare Australia report revealing just how far housing costs have outstripped wages.

Of the nearly 49,000 rental listings surveyed across Australia, fewer than one per cent were affordable to workers in 10 of the 16 essential occupations examined.

Hospitality workers and meat packers fared worst, with just 0.7 per cent of listings affordable, followed by cleaners at 0.8 per cent.

Nurses could afford just 1.1 per cent of listings, compared with 1.7 per cent for aged care workers.

Even teachers and firefighters, who fared better than other workers, could only afford 3.3 per cent and 2.7 per cent of listings respectively.

“We’ve reached a point where the people who keep our hospitals, schools, aged care services and communities running can’t afford to live in them,” said Anglicare Australia Executive Director Kasy Chambers.

Last year, Anglicare Australia reported “hopeful signs” that wage growth was beginning to catch up with rising rents.

But that optimism proved short-lived, with even substantial pay rises failing to deliver meaningful improvements.

Ms Chambers said early childhood educators have seen their wages rise by ten per cent but can still only afford just one percent of rentals.

Over the past year, wages grew by 3.2 percent, while rents increased by more than double that rate, at 7.4 percent.

“Thirteen of the sixteen occupations we surveyed have seen no improvement in rental affordability, even as their wages have increased,” said Ms Chambers.

Anglicare Australia said the crisis had been “building for decades”, accusing successive governments of favouring property investors over Australians trying to find an affordable home.

It welcomed the Albanese government’s recently announced reforms to capital gains tax (CGT)and negative gearing, describing them as a step towards rebalance the housing system.

The changes include restricting negative gearing benefits for new investments in established residential properties and changing the CGT discount.

“It has taken until the crisis has become totally unignorable for the Government to finally begin unwinding policy settings, but there is still more work to do,” the report said.

The organisation wants a major shift in housing policy, arguing governments must take greater responsibility for providing affordable homes.

“Building more expensive homes in the private sector won’t solve this problem. We need governments to invest directly in public and community housing so that people have somewhere affordable to live,” said Ms Chambers.

Back in 1981, public and community housing accounted for 4.9 per cent of Australia’s housing stock.

By 2021, that figure had fallen to just 3.8 per cent.

According to research cited in the report, Australia faces a shortfall of 640,000 social and affordable homes, projected to exceed one million by 2041.

Polling commissioned by Anglicare Australia earlier this year found that two-thirds of Australians support directing revenue from tax reform into more public and community housing, with 23 per cent naming it as a top priority.

The organisation is also calling for limits on the size of rent increases.

“Renters shouldn’t have to live with the constant fear that their next rent increase will force them out of their home or leave them unable to afford other essentials,” said Ms Chambers.

Despite signs of easing rental pressures, rents have climbed more than 50 per cent over the past six years, according to Cotality figures reported by Guardian Australia.

The figures come as Australian home values record their seventh consecutive monthly decline, with capital-city prices dropping 8.1 per cent – the fastest pace in 40 years.

But Anglicare Australia argues that changes in the private housing sector alone won’t be enough to make homes more affordable for essential workers.

“Australia’s essential workers shouldn’t have to choose between doing a job their community depends on and having somewhere affordable to live,” said Ms Chambers.

“When teachers, nurses, aged care workers and other essential staff can’t afford to live in the communities they serve, everyone pays the price.”