Rental pain hits younger Aussies

One group of young Australians are spending up to 94 per cent on their income on rent alone, with two conditions in two capital cities getting worse.

Young income support recipients in Perth and Brisbane are worse off than a year ago despite support payments increasing in the 2023 federal budget, analysis by Homelessness Australia shows.

A 16 to 17-year-old receiving youth allowance or rent assistance is now spending more than 75 per cent of that income on rent in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth.

Homelessness Australia chief executive Kate Colvin said the system was pushing young people to homelessness.

“Right when they need stability to take their first steps in employment or further education they are pushed into poverty, resulting in social exclusion, mental illness and lost lifetime productivity,” Ms Colvin said.

Increasing youth allowance and rent assistance was not an act of charity, she said, but a “hard-headed investment in young people’s future and the nation’s productivity”.

“We need to get our head around the wisdom of preventing homelessness rather than dealing with the escalating social costs of allowing youth homelessness to escalate.”

The Homelessness Australia data shows the thin margin a young person trying to live on their own must survive on.

Comparing the support payments a 16-17-year-old is entitled to, with renting a room in an average two-bedroom home, the figures show Perth and Brisbane particularly have gotten tougher to live in.

In March last year a young Brisbane renter spent 76 per cent of their income on rent and it is now 83 per cent. Perth has gone from 74 to 76 per cent.

At March last year, young Sydney renters paid 99 per cent of their income on rent, a figure that has dropped to 94 per cent.

Melbourne and Darwin young renters – with their $385.70/week income – are marginally better off now than a year ago. Hobart’s relative rental outlay fell 14 points to 60 per cent and Adelaide held steady at 59 per cent.