TRANSCRIPT
Cathy Thompson never would have thought at 58 years of age she would be struggling to afford to live.
Working as a childcare educator in Queensland, Cathy says paying her rent each week is an enormous stress.
"It's not comfortable. It's not comfortable. I want to cry just not thinking about it and talking about it because I wanted more for myself and I wanted more for my kids. And it's hard. I see people on the streets. I've been working in this industry for 24 years, but I see people living on the streets and just think there but for the grace of God go I. It could be one thing in my life that goes wrong, I break my leg or I can't work. That's it. I'm done. I'm on the streets. It's very uncomfortable."
Cathy and her partner's rent increased by $185 in 18 months, and without any savings, Cathy says everything they earn goes towards paying for essentials.
Cathy says she's been forced to sacrifice a lot for herself and her family.
"I can't just dip into my savings because I don't have any savings. Everything goes to living. My daughter's 19 years old. She has never been on a holiday, not once. School holidays and stuff like that, but we've never been able to afford to go away, or I've been able to take time off to be with her, but we've never gone anywhere. You can't do it because you're constantly worried about where you're living."
Cathy isn't the only childcare worker struggling to make ends meet.
There are less than 1% of properties in Australia that are affordable for early childcare educators, and the same goes for delivery drivers, construction workers and cleaners, according to a new rental affordability snapshot report by anti-poverty organisation Anglicare Australia.
In fact, this housing stress is felt by a number of full-time essential workers.
The report surveyed 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 it's a dire situation.
"What we found was absolutely nothing short of alarming. There is literally no affordability. If you're a construction worker, a cleaner, if you're a freight driver, you would've found less than 1% was affordable on this particular weekend. And this weekend's, no different to any other."
Over the past twelve months, rents have grown at nearly twice the rate of wages.
Ms Chambers added that for even the best 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 centres.
Ms Chambers said that many essential workers are being forced to find additional work, or live in locations far from their workplace.
"We hear all the time of nurses who after having worked an eight to 10 hour shift on their feet, go home and do a shift for Uber Eats and then go back to their shift the next day. We know of teachers who are marking students' homework and preparing lessons for the next day in share houses, and we hear constantly of ambulance drivers and construction workers who are starting an early shift already having driven an hour from what's supposedly a cheaper rental."
The housing affordability crisis isn’t isolated to renting, the cost of buying a home has also skyrocketed over time.
Brett Simpson considers himself to be one of the lucky ones.
The 36 year-old paramedic and Australian Paramedics Association New South Wales President, is paying off a mortgage for a home in inner-city Sydney that is close to his work.
While Brett admits meeting these payments can be challenging, he says the situation can be far worse for his colleagues.
He describes the stress of long commutes after 12 or 14 hour shifts, as well as stagnated career progression, due to being unable to afford study opportunities.
"It is really difficult, especially when you are talking about paramedics that are working at busy metropolitan and regional stations. They don't get a break. They're working often. 12 hours is the majority for the majority of our staff is the minimum length of shift that quite often extends out to 13, 14, 15 hours and those staff are not getting a break during that entire time. So to then have to add huge commutes into more affordable parts of New South Wales, it adds huge stress to our paramedics and our members."
These sacrifices certainly take a toll on a person's wellbeing.
As the report notes, mental stress or ill health was seen as one of the biggest impacts of housing affordability by nine in 10 community service organisations, referring to a housing crisis report by Everybody's Home.
Cathy says the situation she and many of her colleagues confront is heartbreaking.
"You're on the edge of the cliff all the time. You need to, okay, you step one step the wrong way and you're off. One thing happens with the cars or something major happens financially, you're off a cliff. It's very precarious. I've had to go through years ago through dodgy loan places just so I could survive."
Anglicare Australia's Kasy Chambers says while they may not be 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 and trickle down housing doesn't. We build more than enough housing. This isn't about supply. We are currently building about 180,000 properties each year in Australia. That more than keeps up with population growth. What we need to do is to be making many more of those affordable housing, social housing. We need 25,000 extra social housing units every year over the next five to 10 years."
The federal government's Housing Australia Future Fund aims to build 30,000 social housing and affordable dwellings over the next five years.
A report from the People's Commission into Australia's Housing Crisis in August found 750,000 social homes needed to be built within two decades to address the shortfall.
The Anglicare report also said expensive tax policies, including capital gains tax concessions, negative gearing and commonwealth rental assistance, are responsible for widening the wealth gap.
It found that negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions offer billions in revenue to private investors, referencing Anglicare's 'A Costly Choice' report.
This report found that 55% of negative gearing concessions flow to the top income earners, while a mere two per cent flow to the bottom income earners.
Ms Chambers called on the government to invest more in social housing, citing the $175 per capita on negative gearing spent by the government in the 2021-2022 financial year in contrast to the $65 per capita spent on the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement in the same year.
"It's time that we turn back the clock a little, go back to how we used to be back to the future and actually start being a society that regards housing as an essential. So people who are earning should be doing decent jobs, are earning a decent income and can put that together with an affordable house to be that foundation."
Cathy says the solution likely involves a multi-faceted approach but agrees there needs to be a greater investment in social housing.
"I think they've dropped the ball as far as social housing goes for sure. But I don't know. I'm scared for the Olympics, to be honest when they're coming because I'm like, they're going to take my house. I can rent it to tourists for $2,000 a week while the Olympics are on. You're that vulnerable, you're that there's some repairs and stuff that needs to be doing on my house, but you don't want to keep nagging the real estate about, because if they think you're too annoying, they'll just terf you out and get somebody else."
