People with good jobs and excellent tenancy references are ending up homeless on the Sunshine Coast after another massive surge in rental prices in the past year.
From October to October, rent costs for all houses across the region (including Noosa) jumped by $160 per week to a median of $640 — a massive 33 per cent rise in 12 months.
The data from Everybody’s Home, which campaigns for affordable housing, reveals median rents for a three-bedroom house climbed from $455 a week in October 2020 to $580 this year— an extra $125.
Across units, the rental increase went from a $385 a week to $495 — a jump of $110.
The high cost of housing, combined with the scarce availability of rentals, has created a group of working homeless — people with jobs but nowhere to live.
But it’s also having a severe impact on low-income earners and those on government payments who can barely afford the ballooning costs.
To rent a median house at $640 a week, a single mother on parenting payment would have to spend 95 per cent of her income on housing, leaving almost nothing for food and bills, said Everybody’s Home spokeswoman Kate Colvin.
A hospitality worker trying to rent a similar house would have to budget 79 per cent of their earnings towards rent.
For Brightwater mum-of-three Nicole Stevens, the dramatic shift in the rental market caught her by surprise and she faces the prospect of sleeping on friends’ couches or living in a caravan park.
Ms Stevens, who works as a public servant, is running out of time to find a new rental after the owner sold the place they had been living in for the past five years.
“It’s just crazy how people are struggling, people with jobs who can pay to live somewhere yet no-one’s giving them anything,” said Ms Stevens.
“I think I have amazing references. I’ve always paid in advance, no arrears. There’s no marks on my rental history. I still don’t get a look-in.
“I will probably get a bit more desperate beyond Friday when everything is in storage and we’re staying on friends’ couches.”
Ms Stevens said rental prices had risen dramatically in the Brightwater area where she would prefer to live because of her kids’ schooling and work (they only have one car).
She had been paying $540 a week which was “manageable” but had to increase her budget to $620 while searching for another place, with her eldest son and daughter offering to kick in from their part-time jobs.
“Even since September I feel like everything’s been increasing because I was applying for homes back then in the high $500s and now in Brightwater, which is our preferred location, it’s $650 upwards for a three-bedroom house,” she said.
“It’s rare to get one under and it’s really competitive to get them.
“We’ve tightened the budget to pay $620 a week to try and afford a new property, and we had to cut costs elsewhere,” she said.
“There’s not much to cut, you can try and watch your electricity costs but we don’t have a big budget.
“We don’t holiday; if we do it’s on a really tight budget.
“I had to go through and cut luxury items like subscriptions to different things like having streaming.
“You can’t cut phone, you need gas, you need power, so it’s just the luxuries like what brands of food you’re eating or whether you can afford to eat out – ever.
“We’re not a family that does things like movies or going to places that cost money. With the budget being cut, it’s food.”
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After repeated rejections, and turning up to open houses with 35 other people, Ms Stevens started distributing flyers about her family’s situation in the hope of appealing to a landlord.
The Stevens’ brochure includes personal details of the children, 19, 16, and 13, to show their good characters and the fact they have jobs and are also studying.
It includes photographs of their home so a landlord can see they are clean and tidy and care for the property like it was their own, even laying turf and doing landscaping.
“I look after my lawn, and I look after my garden and I take pride in my home and treat it like it was my own,” said Ms Stevens.
“I put photos of our living area and backyard (in the flyer) just trying to tell who we are and sent that around to work colleagues and agents. Everyone’s trying to help, so many good people are trying to help.”
Everybody’s Home’s Ms Colvin said there was a desperate need for more housing stock on the Sunshine Coast, in particular social housing for the lower paid.
Ms Colvin said people working industries such as hospitality, retail, and the caring professions like child care or aged care would be struggling to make ends meet.
“They all need somewhere to live but rents are so high and buying a home is not an option with the house prices going up so much,” said Ms Colvin.
“You have people who’ve lived in the Sunshine Coast their whole life who might have retired and be on the low income and they need somewhere to live.
“Or you’ve got people who are working in low paid professions in the area and they need somewhere to live.
“Or you’ve got people who may not be in a position where they could work at the moment and they also need somewhere to live.
“That’s really why we’re calling for there to be more social housing because there are just not enough properties that are affordable in the rental market.”
