Skyrocketing rental prices are forcing families to live in Melbourne’s fringe suburbs where they are struggling to access jobs and education services, new research from welfare agency Anglicare reveals.
Anglicare’s 2014 rental affordability snapshot examined the availability of appropriate and affordable rental properties in Melbourne for people earning the minimum wage and receiving government welfare payments.
It found that couples with two dependant children who earn the minimum wage are priced out of the rental market in the inner suburbs.
The snapshot, based on the 16,094 properties available for rent in Melbourne on April 5, found that 86 per cent of affordable rentals for families were in the outer suburbs, with 67 per cent of those properties located in Wyndham.
It also found there were no affordable rental properties in the municipality for people receiving welfare payments such as Newstart or Youth Allowance.
Anglicare principal researcher Dr Tatiana Corrales said the rental affordability snapshot highlighted a “chronic” and ongoing problem with rental affordability.
She said the shortage of suitably priced properties in Melbourne’s inner suburbs was forcing families to live in areas with insufficient public transport services and few local job opportunities, compounding their existing problems.
“Families are being forced to live in areas that are marginalised and have high levels of disadvantage,” Dr Corrales said.
“Renters are finding they can stay close to the city and pay more than they can afford or live in inadequate housing that doesn’t meet their needs. Or they are forced to live in areas that have reduced access to infrastructure and higher unemployment.”
Dr Corrales said the research highlighted how much rental prices had increased in recent years and how far behind government assistance payments were.
She has called for an increase in Victoria’s social housing stock and for the state and federal governments to work together to improve rental affordability by investing in the necessary infrastructure to ease the cost of living in fringe suburbs like Wyndham.
