The 2016 Census was unkind to Australia’s growing army of renters:
Not only have rental costs increased significantly relative to household incomes over the past 15 years:
But the proportion of renters in “stress” – defined as spending more than 30% of their household incomes on paying their rents – has increased substantially:
With Sydney renters most effected:
Since the 2016 Census was conducted, we have witnessed the NSW Government give the green light for residents to list entire homes on AirBnb, thus removing them from the rental market, in contrast to moves overseas to outlaw such practices. Indeed, recent research found that Airbnb has grown rapidly in Sydney since 2011, doubling year-on-year to around 15,648 Sydney properties listed in January 2016.
Then it was revealed last month that rent-bidding apps are set to make renters’ lives even more difficult by increasing competition among tenants and bidding-up rents.
Last night, ABC’s 7.30 Report ran a segment on how increasing numbers of renters are finding themselves on rental blacklists for seemingly minor indiscretions, thereby making it more difficult to rent again in the future:
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: You may not even be aware of it, but if you rent a property you could find yourself on a database or blacklist that may make it difficult for you to rent again in the future.
Australia’s housing crisis is pushing an increasing number of people onto the rental market and that means tenants are vulnerable to discrimination and eviction, given it is not hard to find replacements…
PETER MCCUTCHEON, REPORTER: Gary Hobson is preparing to move for the third time in less than three years. A night-shift shelf packer, he feels powerless in the rental market.
GARY HOBSON, RENTER: Having to find a place to live and… you know, it’s just… it’s just horrendous. It really is horrendous.
PETER MCCUTCHEON: He has had a hard time with real estate agents, having been placed on a blacklist operated by the company TICA, over a $200 cleaning bill dispute.
GARY HOBSON: We were walking out and the agent turned around and said, “Oh, by the way, you are on the TICA list and you won’t rent anything in Australia or New Zealand” and then turned and walked off. Left me dumbfounded.
PENNY CARR, TENANTS QUEENSLAND: And what that does to people is to push them into marginal tenures, into vulnerable situations. It pushes people virtually into homelessness…
PETER MCCUTCHEON: A recent survey by Choice magazine described the rental market as “a war zone,” with half of those surveyed living in fear of being placed on the dreaded tenancy database. These databases are operated by private companies and effectively work as a blacklist.
MARK O’BRIEN, TENANTS VICTORIA: There is a limited number of database operators and some are better than others. But there’s this element of unaccountability to them that is deeply problematic…
Well, you have to remember: you are talking about a listing that will potentially prevent someone from securing a home. So the consequences are quite significant for the tenant. But that doesn’t seem to be appreciated by the operators or the regulators in the respective states…
With the lack of security of tenure, renters in Australia are treated like second-class citizens. This has to change, especially given renting is becoming the dominant for form of housing for the younger generations, where home ownership rates have collapsed.
