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Australians on youth allowance are facing particularly harsh realities in the rental crisis, with budgets tighter than ever before.
Research from Homelessness Australia reveals that young renters on youth allowance sharing a typical two-bedroom apartment have only $13 a day left over after they cover the cost of housing.
That’s less than $100 a week to spend on food transport, medicine, utilities, and any other personal needs.
The national network calculated the average split cost of renting a two-bedroom apartment, and pulled two years worth of data to assess how sharply costs are rising for young people receiving the maximum income support payment when living independently.
While overall income support payments increased by 10 per cent in two years due to CPI indexing, rents jumped by 24 per cent. A young person who paid 64 per cent of their income two years ago to share a two-bedroom unit will now have to pay 73 per cent of their income. They have roughly $17 less a week than they did two years ago, which is a significant cut on a budget so tight and with living costs at record highs.
Kate Colvin, CEO of Homelessness Australia, commented not only on the difficulty of affording living expenses for a person on youth allowance, but also on the challenge of simply finding a rental in the current market as an applicant with such financial precarity.
“The reality is landlords will not rent to a young person whose budget is stretched this thinly, making it almost impossible for young people who can’t live safely at home to find somewhere to live,” she said.
Even with a roof over their heads, Ms Colvin pointed out the impossible situation these young people face.
“After paying rent, a young person on income support in Australia has only $13 a day to cover food, transport, medicine, power, and other costs. Unless there’s some magic pudding we’re not aware of, this is a ridiculous expectation,”
She called on the government to increase youth payments to address the untenable situation they face with rents rising across the country.
“We urgently need to lift Youth Allowance and Commonwealth Rent Assistance so young people have the income they need to avoid homelessness. By failing to act, we are condemning growing numbers of young people to homelessness and poverty. It’s impossible to develop skills and experience or attain an education when you’re hungry or unsure of where you will sleep”.
Recent figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show that each year, 39,300 children and young people aged 15 to 24 come to homelessness services alone.
“It is harder and harder for homelessness services to find young people a rental home and when they do, the rent is eye-wateringly expensive. If we want to give the next generation a genuine shot in life, the least we can do is give them the income they need to survive,” Ms Colvin said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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