Mr BAYLEY(Clark) – Honourable Speaker, I rise to talk about housing and a couple of recent reports that have been released. You only have to ask a renter to be told that finding an affordable place to live is getting harder and harder. The National Shelter SGS Economics and Planning Rental Affordability Index released in November only confirms it. They found that the affordability of renting in Greater Hobart has declined in the past year. Even average income earners are on the cusp of rental stress, with the median rent of $520 a week accounting for 28 per cent of renters’ income. Even for a couple both earning minimum wage, rents are, I quote, ‘Modestly unaffordable’. For low-income householders it’s even worse. People on Job Seeker, pensions and single parents working part time are facing extremely or severely unaffordable rents.
This is a problem of the Liberal government’s making. They simply haven’t built enough houses in the last decade, and they have let Tasmania’s homes be converted to Airbnbs at record rates. It’s time they gave renters real rights and stopped unreasonable rent increases.
Rents are unaffordable around the rest of Tasmania as well. Things aren’t much better in Launceston, Devonport and Burnie than in Hobart. If you want to find affordable rentals, it’s pretty much a matter of moving to Queenstown or St Helens. It’s simply not good enough. Housing is a human right, and we know that housing and secure housing leads to better school attendance, better productivity at work, better mental health and health outcomes.
Shelter Tasmania’s acting CEO, Dr Lauren McGrow [OK], said that homelessness services are reporting that workers and families who have never struggled before are finding it difficult to find affordable housing. Unaffordable rents are causing people to skip meals, the cost of living and housing crisis is hitting Tasmanians hard, and the Liberals just simply aren’t doing enough to help struggling Tasmanians.
They often talk about how things are getting better here than on the mainland, but it’s simply not true anymore. According to SGS Economics and Planning senior associate, Kishan Ratnam [OK], and I quote:
Hobart renters are paying only 10 per cent less than their Melbourne counterparts, even though their incomes are 22 per cent lower.
While all areas are unaffordable in Hobart, in Melbourne and Sydney at least there are some areas which still remain affordable. The Liberals review of the Residential Tenancy Act is welcome, but struggling Tasmanians can’t wait for action. We need some action now.
On another report, SQM Research has said that Tasmanians are already struggling to find an affordable place to live, but many things are set to get worse again. That’s according to this research which has predicted what life will be like for Hobart renters in a decade. In 10 years, they’re predicting rents will rise by 6 per cent to10 per cent. For a median rental, that’s a rise from $580 to $760 a week. That means Hobart renters might have to pay a staggering $40,000 a year just to keep a roof over their head. It’s more than $9000 over what most renters are paying today.
The Liberals have sat on their hands for the last decade as rents have continued to rise. It’s time they gave renters real rights before things get worse, and instead of focusing on a billion-dollar stadium, we should be making sure that Homes Tasmania is funded adequately to build the houses that Tasmanians need. We need to manage unaffordable rent increases; we need to end no-cause evictions, and make sure that the houses we do have meet minimum standards. With so many whole home rentals being stripped out of the rental market into short stay hotels, we need a way to regulate Airbnb. The 5 per cent short stay that the Liberals promised two elections ago, is now not set to be introduced until next year. Meanwhile, we’re losing houses along the way. That really should be stepped up, and that would have helped with a $22 million injection into the budget.
Report after report is demonstrating that the housing stress and the housing challenge in Tasmania is getting worse. It’s projected to get worse still. We have 5336 applicants on the priority housing register. In Estimates, we heard that many of them have one, two, three or even more children, so we know that that 5000-plus applications actually equals 8000 plus individual Tasmanians who are needing to find a home.
We must do better for vulnerable Tasmanians. We must build more homes. We must give renters real rights because it is a human right to have a home to call your own and we are currently dismally failing Tasmanians.
