Werribee and Hoppers Crossing have been named two of Melbourne’s most affordable suburbs for renters, but 50 per cent of Centrelink recipients can’t afford to live there, a new Health and Human Services Department report has found.
The rental affordability report states that 50.6 per cent of rental properties in Werribee and Hoppers Crossing are “affordable” for people receiving Centrelink benefits, which would make them – treated as a single entity – Melbourne’s second-most-affordable suburbs, after Melton.
The department defines “affordable” as properties where the rent consumes no more than a third of the renter’s net income.
Its report found that the median rent of a three-bedroom house in Werribee and Hoppers Crossing was $300 a week. Only Melton had cheaper rents, with three-bedroom houses at a median of $275.
Rents for one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats in Werribee and Hoppers Crossing were also among the most affordable in Melbourne, at $240 and $260 a week respectively, while two-bedroom houses’ median rent was $275.
Werribee and Hoppers Crossing were also found to have Melbourne’s most active rental market. The number of rental properties in the area has increased 71 per cent in the past five years, to 16,280 properties.
While lower rents make Werribee and Hoppers Crossing a haven for people who can’t afford to live elsewhere, welfare organisations are warning that renters are often not considering the true cost of living in outer suburbs.
In May, Anglicare found that the lack of public transport, jobs and social services were impacting on the low-income families that were living in Werribee and Hoppers Crossing. The welfare agency warned that families forced to live in outer suburbs incurred higher transport costs and were travelling further to get to work.
Anglicare researcher Tatiana Corrales said many people on income support were being priced out of the rental market, and there were “chronic” and ongoing problems with rental affordability.
Dr Corrales called on the federal government to increase income support payments for low-income people so that rental properties would be more affordable for more people.
