Anglicare Tasmania's annual Snapshot has revealed that rental affordability is at an all-time low, and low-income earners are one demographic that suffers the most.
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The Snapshot states that affordability for households on income support has fallen to its lowest level in the survey's history.
According to the Snapshot, single people on JobSeeker can pay just $126 a week in rent before they experience rental stress.
Therefore, in this price range, they are at the bottom of the sharehouse market.
There was just one room advertised in Tasmania on the Snapshot that this demographic could afford.
The Snapshot noted that people on Youth Allowance are entirely priced out of the market, able to afford only $102 a week.
Anglicare Social Action and Research Centre (SARC) Coordinator, economist Mary Bennett, said, "Tasmanians on low incomes are being out-competed and pushed into homelessness."
Case Study
Ruby is 20 and gained casual work in her chosen field after completing a Certificate IV at TAFE.
She enjoys her job, and her employer has indicated that she will be given more hours when they become available.
This would be great because the hours she is working at present do not cover her living costs.
Her workmates don't know it, but Ruby has spent the last few months homeless, couch-surfing in Hobart.
She was living with her parents, but she left to escape her father's violent outbursts.
She has no other family locally and relies on friends' goodwill.
But their patience is wearing thin, and Ruby wants to stay in the same place for more than a few nights running.
While she was living with her parents, Ruby received Youth Allowance.
Now that she's considered independent, she has applied for JobSeeker Payment.
When the paperwork comes through, she is likely to have an income of about $700 a fortnight and can afford a maximum weekly rent of no more than $115.
The survey highlighted that this is not enough for a room in a sharehouse anywhere in Tasmania.
Anglicare Tasmania's CEO, Dr Chris Jones, said, "Social housing is critical for ensuring that all Tasmanians have access to safe, appropriate and affordable homes."
He said the private rental market is unaffordable for most low-income Tasmanians.
"We support investment by governments to build more social and affordable homes - at a level to match the scale of this national housing crisis", Dr Jones said.