Tenants at breaking point amid housing crisis | A Current Affair

the rental crisis has hit record levels more Australians than ever are desperate to either find somewhere to live or simply hang on to the place they have state governments are scrambling to come up with ways to help those in need but the fear is any action will be too little too late otherwise help people I'm an ass um and yeah I just need a little bit of help it's the rental crisis we've never seen before we certainly haven't seen rents Rising this rapidly and a lack of available properties in almost every area and region of not only the city but the state and the country it's almost like looking for a needle in a haystack when you're trying to secure an empty rental pushing family budgets to Breaking Point so I pay my rent one week I'm left with fifty dollars and governments left scratching for Solutions we are looking at rent increases of being once a year instead of twice a year trying to work and trying to survive and trying yeah to pay rent and pay all the bills I just can't do it Niguel Smith moved into her house in September last year she pays 550 a week for the home for her and her son she knows it's more than she can afford but it's all that she could get at the time I can't afford to move again I just can't afford to move um I don't know if it comes to that I'd have to sell all my furniture to move now she's contemplating if she can rent out a room just to make ends meet before more people become homeless the government need to do something people who have never really struggled to find a new home before are finding it very tough at the moment the Queensland government has announced new laws to limit rent increases to once every 12 months similar to rules that are already in place in the ACT New South Wales Victoria Tasmania and South Australia Western Australia and the NT allow for increases every six months but some industry experts say rent caps don't work Leo Patterson Ross from the tenants Union New South Wales what we've seen since that rule was introduced is a shift to Shorter term contracts that allow the landlord to increase the rent more frequently than the 12-month limit some sectors have called for limits to how much a landlord can raise rents by to stop cases like this where an entire block of tenants in Sydney's tamarama is facing a whopping 70 percent increase in rent Harrison reads rent going for from 670 a week to 1 100 I thought it might have been a joke but premieres Nationwide have shot down the idea Leo says New South Wales desperately needs an end to no grounds evictions which he says is being used by landlords to evict tenants who protest the raising of Rents It was the new labor government's election promise last month now this is urgent work because it is a fundamental part of the renting crisis at the moment that renters are in such a tough place this is australia-wide issue not just one individual capital city it's almost everywhere in Australia Nicola Powell from domain says every capital city is recording record high rents Canberra Remains the most expensive Capital City to rent a house but over the most recent quarter what we saw is Sydney became the most expensive Capital City to rent a uni it's soaring past Canberra she believes offering longer leases up to three years like in Europe could help provide some stability in the market we really need to shake up the rental sector in Australia we tend to offer 12-month leases but there are you know one third of our population are tenants they do rent and some of us want a longer lease so when could the market start to flatten well there's not great news there with migration climbing Nicola fears there's no end in sight without massive investment in building more homes and affordable housing it's going to be some time before we see any change in those conditions Supply takes a while to get into the market and I think the market is extremely tight at the moment for tenants [Music] you can take your landlord to a state tribunal if you think your rent increases too steep however it's risky because if the tribunal rules against you you can be marked as a problem tenant

Channel: A Current Affair

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Keywords: a current affair, a current affair reporter, a current affair australia, channel 9 news, 9 news australia, australia news, world news, australian news, channel 9, money, superannuation, finance, cost of living, real estate

Id: 8MXg_eAeRNM

Length: 5min 13sec (313 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 17 2023