New statistics revealed in Anglicare's annual national rental affordability snapshot show a "catastrophic" housing outlook for vulnerable people relying on government supports as the rental crisis worsens in the Bega area.
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Anglicare's snapshot indicated only 16 properties were available in the reporting timeframe. Of those, none were considered "affordable and appropriate" across the majority of household categories considered.
The lone exception was for a household of a couple, with two children under 10, earning minimum wage and receiving Family Tax Benefit A - for them, just one property was "affordable and appropriate".
Anglicare said the data was sourced via Domain on March 18, with the available rentals on that day considered indicative of the market average.
Affordability was determined to be a rent of no more than 30 per cent of household income, while appropriateness took into account the property's size and number of bedrooms available for the household's makeup of adults and children
Of the categories reviewed in the research, most showed no housing would be affordable in the Bega area for people relying on government supports.
The only significant exception was for couples on minimum wage receiving family tax benefits, which showed that one property (six per cent of properties) would be affordable.
This shows is a deeply flawed housing system from which there is little or no relief on the horizon for low income families.
- Jeremy Halcrow, Chief Executive for Anglicare NSW South, NSW West and ACT
Anglicare's bushfire recovery manager on the Far South Coast, Carlin Stanford, said regional areas like the Bega Valley not only have to contend with a housing crisis that is affecting regions across the country, but are also bearing the ongoing impacts of the Black Summer bushfires.
Anglicare recently employed a team of bushfire recovery coordinators to assist Ms Stanford in providing ongoing advocacy and assistance to people in the Bega Valley and wider South Coast region.
"Families in this region, particularly those with lower household incomes, have experience huge housing difficulties over the past couple of years," Ms Stanford said.
"At our service, we support people who have lost their homes in the fires and now have nowhere to live as rents and housing prices continue to surge.
"This financial pressure combined with the ongoing trauma associated with the fires is affecting people both financially and emotionally," she said.
"For those who didn't lose homes in the fires, they still face the prospect of unaffordable rents, or unavailable housing.
"The COVID lockdowns and the movement of people from metro areas to regional areas like the Bega Valley has contributed to the huge spike in rental costs.
"Without secure housing, people face possible mental and physical health problems, relationship stress and difficulties maintaining employment."
Viv de Lacy Peek is a community volunteer in Eden, who said the situation is so dire, people like her are bringing people into their homes.
"The lack of affordable housing in this region is devastating," she said.
"There is simply nowhere for people to go as the housing crisis affects people right across the area.
"That's why I decided to help and offer my spare room to someone who needs it.
"The colder months are approaching and people are living in tents in the bush or in their cars because they have no other options. It's heartbreaking."
In Batemans Bay, the situation was similarly "distressing", with rentals out of reach for anyone other than a couple earning minimum wage plus Family Tax Benefits for their two children.
Jeremy Halcrow, chief executive for Anglicare NSW South, NSW West and ACT, said the data was heartbreaking.
"To see the results showing such a concerning lack of housing affordability points to more than a housing crisis. This shows is a deeply flawed housing system from which there is little or no relief on the horizon for low income families," Mr Halcrow said.
"A reduction in supply caused by the 2020 bushfires is affecting many areas of the South Coast including Batemans Bay, Moruya and Bega. The additional effects of COVID-19 and the impact on businesses, especially those relying on tourism, has put further financial pressure on local families.
"There needs to be significant government commitments to increase public housing, provide greater protections for tenants, and make the coronavirus increases to the Jobseeker supplements permanent.
"Housing stress and poverty will become an entrenched and distressingly 'normalised' part of life for a growing number of vulnerable families, and organisations like Anglicare will be increasingly called upon to bridge the gap for those in need if there is not swift and significant change.
"If you don't have a safe and affordable home, every area of your life can be impacted including relationships, employment, study, mental health, physical safety and wellbeing."
Narooma couple Samantha and Ian were both in full-time jobs before their daughter's birth, but were unable to secure a private rental.
Their daughter is now two months old, and the young family is living in a small caravan in a relative's backyard.
"We looked for more than 12 months and put in heaps of applications, but we got nothing," Samantha said.
"Anglicare have been wonderful in helping us get on priority lists for government housing, but we would have preferred a private rental.
"Our current situation makes me feel pretty anxious and unstable."
"My partner grew up here and has family in the area, so we don't want to move away, but I'm really worried about what to do when my daughter starts walking.
"The caravan has no space, and the backyard is unsafe and has snakes.
"We want a home where we can set up our lives as a family and know that our daughter will be safe."
Samantha said local Aboriginal housing agencies were also struggling to find accommodation for a growing number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, with some people having no options outside of moving into a tent.
"For Aboriginal families, there are a lot of barriers to getting into the rental market or looking at getting a deposit for a home," she said.
"Greater support for Aboriginal agencies is needed, including financial literacy programs for people in regional areas."
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Ben Smyth
I have worked as a journalist since 2005 and am now Editor of Australian Community Media mastheads in Bega, Merimbula and Eden
I have worked as a journalist since 2005 and am now Editor of Australian Community Media mastheads in Bega, Merimbula and Eden
