Response to 2026 Federal Budget from Anti-Poverty Network SA member, Mel, May 13, Parliament, North Terrace, Adelaide.
I have been renting privately through real estate companies for a couple of decades, ever since my divorce.
I have helped landlords pay their mortgages and buy expensive cars.
I have passed almost 80 unit inspections and therefore looked after ‘the property’ properly.
And I am currently aware that inflation is running at 4.6%, and there has recently been an interest rate rise to 4.35%, i..e., a rise of 0.25%. And my rent will rise by 21% next month.
If you are single and on JobSeeker, or any type of pension, and have to rent, there is bad news: there are almost no affordable rentals in the private housing market.
Rents were climbing 4 years ago and after my new rent rise, my rent will have doubled from 4 years ago.
So, what do I do about the rent rise?
Write a letter of complaint to my landlord?
Go to a tenancy advocacy board?
Move to another unit in the Southern Adelaide area?
Visit a Housing Trust office?
Firstly, I went online to real estate.com and found out, that even with a 21% rent rise, only 1 or 2 comparable units were cheaper than mine. And the Housing Trust classes Category 1, as those who are homeless, not those on government payments who cannot find affordable accommodation.
Thus, the only solutions are:
-To increase rent assistance in line with actual averages in the rental market existing in the real world
-To introduce rent capping that is in line with inflation
-To increase massively the public housing market so that people on low incomes can be housed without being traumatised
Finally, I ask one question of politicians:
What good is a system of housing that gives prosperity to investors by causing pain and suffering to renters on low incomes and is also a system that is creating homelessness?
This is a diabolical dichotomy.
