Anglicare research reveals rental poverty for essential workers  

Anglicare Sydney’s latest research, released today, reveals worsening rental affordability for essential workers in NSW. It shows that there is an urgent need to boost social and affordable housing and make it an option for more Australians.

Affordability was tested by taking a snapshot of over 14,600 rental listings over a weekend period in NSW. It looked at 16 types of single essential workers and what was affordable – including shared rooms and bedsits.

For essential workers living in NSW the situation has deteriorated even further in 2024. Those with the most limited options include hospitality workers, cleaners, and early childhood educators. These workers could afford less than one percent of properties surveyed.

In NSW the results are dire.

• 281 rentals (1.9%) were affordable for an ambulance worker
• 217 rentals (1.5%) were affordable for an aged care worker
• 194 rentals (1.3%) were affordable for a nurse
• 129 rentals (0.9%) were affordable for an early childhood educator
• 129 rentals (0.9%) were affordable for a cleaner
• 115 rentals (0.8%) were affordable for a hospitality worker.

Anglicare Sydney’s research over the last 12 years has repeatedly reported that rental affordability for people on low incomes has seriously deteriorated.

Anglicare Sydney CEO, Simon Miller, said “It is a serious concern to see the housing crisis is having such a significant impact on essential workers in our community.

“Essential workers are exactly that. We need them to function well as a society and we can’t afford to let them down. Access to affordable housing for essential workers is not only important to them and their families, it is also a strategic investment in the wellbeing and resilience of our wider communities. These workers provide critical services, and it is only right that they can afford a stable, secure place to call home,” he said.

These results show rental affordability is now at crisis point.

Essential workers, including aged care workers, police officer, paramedics, among others, play a critical role in our communities. Access to safe, secure and affordable housing is a fundamental human right.

Clearly more still needs to be done at both Federal and State Government levels.

Anglicare is calling for a raft of strategic initiatives including a commitment by the NSW Government to increase the social housing stock by 5,000 new homes every year for a decade, implement a range of measures to protect private renters to ensure some security of tenure and consider a range of zoning and planning measures to accelerate and streamline construction.

These results for NSW are concerning and serious.

“This is an opportunity to make change on an issue which is driving long term financial hardship and poverty. We call on all levels of government to work together and focus on building long term sustainable solutions, especially for those who give so much back to the community,” said Mr Miller.

Note: Anglicare rental affordability snapshot was measured using the 14,685 rental listings over a weekend 16-17 March 2024.

Contact:

Lauren White, Head of Communications
lauren.white@anglicare.org.au