Decision details

Moved by Councillor Ellsmore, seconded by Councillor Thompson –

It is resolved that:

(A)       Council note:

(i)         the Rental Affordability Snapshot is an annual survey conducted by Anglicare Australia and its state and territory branches, to measure the affordability of rental properties for people on low incomes;

(ii)        for the last 16 years, a ‘snapshot’ has been taken of current rental listings on websites like realestate.com.au, gumtree.com.au and Flatmates.com.au, for one weekend at the end of March;

(iii)       the snapshot focuses on the maximum weekly rent that would be affordable for a person or couple on minimum wage, or on income support including JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, the Disability Support Pension, the Age Pension, Parenting Payment, and relevant allowances and rent assistance; 

(iv)       when assessing whether or not rental housing is “affordable” Anglicare uses a similar definition to the City of Sydney. That is, rent should not be more than 30% of household income, for a household not to be in financial stress;

(v)        Anglicare’s 2025 Rental Affordability Snapshot has recently been released. The 2025 report reviewed 51,238 rental listings nationally for the weekend of 15-16 March 2025, and found:

(a)        for a single person on JobSeeker there were only 3 rental properties across the country that would be affordable – 2 rooms in a share house, and one single unit in regional NSW, were the only affordable properties for this group. There were zero affordable rental properties in Greater Sydney and the Illawarra for a single person on Job Seeker;

(b)        for a single person on Youth Allowance there were zero affordable rental properties nationally; and

(c)        for a couple with two children, where there are two parents earning minimum wage, 12.8% of listings were affordable. For Greater Sydney and the Illawarra this was only 1.63% of properties;

(vi)       the reports’ conclusions include that:

(a)        rental housing that is affordable is becoming increasingly rare each year;

(2)        the lack of access to affordable rentals is not just a supply problem. The 2025 report found an overall increase in rental listings, but this did not translate into increased affordability. Even with more properties on the market, affordability rates remain static or declined for most groups;

(b)        the rate of Commonwealth income support is far too low to enable people to afford to rent, without housing stress; and

(c)        Commonwealth Rent Assistance has become the Federal Government’s single largest recurring housing expense, up to $5.5 billion in 2023-24. The base rate was increased by 25% between 2022 and 2024. However, only one in 10 people who are out of work are eligible for the payment, and for those who receive it there is little evidence it is helping people afford to rent;

(vii)      the report recommends that: 

(a)        an overhaul of Australia’s tax system is needed, particularly in relation to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, as both are key drivers of housing unaffordability;

(b)        the rate of income support payments needs to be raised, and Commonwealth Rent Assistance overhauled; and

(c)        the Australian Government must support the construction of 25,000 new public and social home each year, for the next 20 years; and

(B)       the Lord Mayor be requested to write to the incoming Federal Government calling on them to carefully review the findings of Anglicare’s 2025 Rental Affordability Snapshot and publish a detailed response to its recommendations as well as analysis of the impacts of tax reform and raising Commonwealth Rent Assistance on housing affordability and supply. 

Carried unanimously.

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