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Cathy Thompson never thought that at 58 years old she would struggle to support herself.
Cathy, who works as a child care teacher in Queensland, says paying rent every week is a huge stress.
“It’s not comfortable. It’s not comfortable. I want to cry just without thinking about it or talking about it because I wanted more for myself and I wanted more for my children. And it’s hard. I see people on the street. I have I have been in this industry for 24 years, but I see people living on the street and I think about it, but for the grace of God, I might leave. something in my life goes wrong, I break my leg or I can’ It doesn’t work. I’m on the street. It’s very uncomfortable.
Cathy and her partner’s rent has increased by $185 in 18 months, and with no savings, Cathy says everything they earn goes to pay for essentials.
Cathy says she was forced to make a lot of sacrifices for herself and her family.
“I can’t dip into my savings because I don’t have any savings. It’s all about life. My daughter is 19. She’s never been on vacation, not once. School vacations and that sort of thing, but we I could never afford to leave, or I could take time out to be with her, but we never went anywhere You can’t do it because you. constantly worry about where you are I. screw.”
Cathy isn’t the only educator struggling to make ends meet.
There are less than 1% of properties in Australia that are affordable for early childhood educators, and the same goes for delivery drivers, construction workers and cleaners, according to a new snapshot report on rent affordability from anti-poverty organization Anglicare Australia.
In fact, this housing stress is being felt by a number of full-time essential workers.
The report studied just over 45,000 rental listings across Australia over a weekend in March this year, measuring their affordability for those working in 15 essential occupations.
Anglicare executive director Kasy Chambers says the situation is dire.
“What we found was absolutely alarming. There are literally no affordable prices. If you’re a construction worker, a cleaner, if you’re a freight driver, you would have found that less than 1% was affordable on this particular weekend product. And this weekend’s is no different from the others.
Over the past twelve months, rents have increased almost twice as fast as wages.
Ms Chambers added that even for the highest paid essential workers – including teachers and firefighters – less than 4% of the 45,000 properties available were affordable.
And unfortunately, most major regional areas were only slightly more affordable than major urban centers.
Ms. Chambers said many essential workers are forced to find additional work or live in locations far from their workplaces.
“We hear all the time from nurses who, after working eight to 10 hours on their feet, go home and do a shift for Uber Eats, then return to their shift the next day. We know of teachers who grade students’ homework. and preparing for the next day’s classes in shared accommodations, and we constantly hear about ambulance drivers and construction workers starting their shifts early after having already driven an hour from what is supposed to be a cheaper rental.
The housing affordability crisis isn’t just about rent: the cost of buying a home has also skyrocketed over time.
Brett Simpson considers himself one of the lucky ones.
The 36-year-old paramedic and president of the Australian Paramedics Association of New South Wales is paying off the mortgage on a house in inner-city Sydney, close to his work.
Although Brett admits it can be difficult to keep up with these payments, he says the situation can be much worse for his colleagues.
He describes the stress of long commutes after 12- or 14-hour shifts, as well as the stagnation of career advancement, due to the inability to afford educational opportunities.
“It’s really difficult, especially when we’re talking about paramedics who work in busy metropolitan and regional stations. They don’t get a break. They often work. 12 hours is the majority for the majority of our staff’s minimum working hours often extend to 13, 14, 15 hours and these employees do not benefit from a break during this entire period. So, then having to add enormous travel to regions. most affordable in New South Wales adds enormous stress to our paramedics and our members.
These sacrifices certainly harm a person’s well-being.
As the report notes, mental stress or poor health is considered one of the most significant impacts of housing affordability by nine in ten community service organizations, referencing a housing crisis report released by Everybody’s Home.
Cathy says the situation she and many of her colleagues are facing is heartbreaking.
“You’re on the edge of the cliff all the time. You have to do it, okay, you take a step in the wrong direction and you go. Something happens with cars or something big happens financially, you are out of a situation. It’s very precarious. I had to go through bad loans years ago just to be able to survive.
Anglicare Australia’s Kasy Chambers says while they are not easy, the solutions are obvious and urgent: building more social housing is one of them.
“Trickle-down housing doesn’t work. Trickle-down economics doesn’t work and trickle-down housing doesn’t work. We’re building more than enough housing. It’s not a question of supply. We’re currently building about 180,000 properties every year in Australia This What we need to do is create more affordable housing and social housing We need 25,000 more social housing units every. year over the next five to ten years.
The federal government’s Housing Australia Future Fund aims to build 30,000 social and affordable homes over the next five years.
A report by the People’s Commission into Australia’s housing crisis released in August found that 750,000 social housing units would need to be built within two decades to close the deficit.
The Anglicare report also says that costly tax policies, including capital gains tax breaks, negative leverage and Commonwealth rental assistance, are responsible for the widening wealth gap.
The study found that negative gearing and capital gains tax breaks offer billions in revenue to private investors, referencing Anglicare’s ‘A Costly Choice’ report.
This report reveals that 55% of negative debt concessions benefit those on the highest incomes, while only 2% go to those on the lowest incomes.
Ms Chambers called on the Government to invest more in social housing, citing the $175 per capita spent on negative debt the Government spent in the 2021-22 financial year, in contrast to the $65 per capita spent on National Agreement on Housing and Homelessness in the same financial year. year.
“It’s time to go back a little bit, go back to the way we were into the future and actually start being a society that sees housing as an essential. So people who are earning should have a decent job , earn a decent income and I can combine that with an affordable home to build that foundation.”
Cathy says the solution likely involves a multi-faceted approach, but agrees that more investment is needed in social housing.
“I think they dropped the ball on social housing, that’s for sure. But I don’t know. I’m scared for the Olympics, to be honest, when they come because I say, they are I will take my house I can rent it to tourists for $2,000 a week while the Olympics are on. You are so vulnerable, you think there are repairs and things to be done on. my house, but you don’t. I don’t want to keep pestering real estate, because if they think you’re too boring, they’ll kick you out and find someone else.
