Housing Affordability and Homelessness
Demand for our services is the greatest it’s ever been, and while our newest housing projects on the Sunshine Coast and Ipswich will provide homes for those most in need, it is a small step to addressing a much larger issue.
Finding and maintaining a suitable home is highly dependent on availability and affordability of housing. The fluctuating market can be a major barrier that affects people’s ability to secure stable accommodation. Homelessness Week is a great opportunity to reflect on what that looks like for people on low or fixed incomes.
The Anglicare Southern Queensland Rental Affordability Snapshot 2024 found that in the Brisbane private rental market, only 0.1% of dwellings were affordable for a person on income support and only 1.2% of dwellings were affordable for single people on minimum wage.
When is accommodation considered unaffordable?
Rental affordability is determined by comparing rent contribution with income. In Australia, rent payments that are 30% of income or lower is considered affordable. Rent that costs above 30% of income is considered unaffordable, as it can be hard to sustain and makes it difficult to afford other costs like utilities, phones, food, medical expenses and transportation.
Let’s have a look at the weekly budgeting for a single person in three different circumstances.
Weekly figures | Job Seeker | Adult (over 21) Minimum take home pay for full time work | Average weekly take home pay |
Income: | $381.35 | $801.56 | $1137.07 |
Affordable housing rent budget (30% of income): | $114.41 | $240.46 | $341.12 |
Remaining budget for living expenses: | $266.94 | $561.10 | $795.95 |
Average cost of 1br unit in Brisbane | $455 | $455 | $455 |
Remaining budget for living expenses if spending current average cost | -$73.65 | $346.56 | $682.07 |
Renting a 1-bedroom unit in Brisbane can cost between $350 and $560 per week. We can see that this potential rental cost exceeds the affordable housing budget for three groups of people, which means many single people are spending over 30% of their income on housing. This may be somewhat sustainable for those on higher incomes, but for those on lower incomes it doesn’t leave enough to live on. There are reports of some people spending as much as 65% of their income on rent. This financial pressure has broad impacts which can lead to people being without stable housing.
What about social housing?
Social housing rents are income-based where rent contribution is charged at 25% of tenants’ income, which ensures ongoing affordability. However, there is not enough social housing to meet the growing need, with 43,000 people on the waitlist in Queensland alone.
Greater housing supply and adequate support are both important factors for reducing the number of people who experience homelessness due to unaffordable housing. Many organisations are working to address these concerns. Together we need to ensure that:
- Income support payments are liveable. Homelessness Australia is calling to increase income support payments to at least $80 a day to help people afford basic living expenses like rent.
- There is a constant pipeline of new social and affordable housing. Only around 3.4% of dwellings in Queensland are social housing, while experts say that a minimum of 10% of Australia’s housing stock should be dedicated to social and affordable housing.
- Funding for homelessness services is sufficient. In 2022–23, 108,000 people sought help from homelessness services in Australia but were unable to be assisted due to shortage of accommodation, staff or other resources.
Find out more about the meaningful work our Churches of Christ Housing Services provide here.
Want to know more about housing affordability? Check out the Anglicare Southern Queensland Rental Affordability Snapshot