BY OLIVIA GOELDNER
A recent graph produced by Anglicare Australia shows the lack of affordability when it comes to rental housing in Australia.
Hunter renters are among the most affected with the graph revealing housing affordability for essential workers is at less than 1.5%.
Nurses, childcare educators and aged care workers are among the worst impacted, with many full-time workers unable to find suitable housing.
Anglicare Australia Executive Director Kasy Chambers, said essential workers are being priced out of their homes.
“These are great professions and great roles and yet our community has housing too expensive for them to live,” she said.
Pressures are not only coming from pricing, but availability, with rental vacancy rates falling below 1% in the past 12 months nationally.
Kasy Chambers says change needs to occur at a national level.
“This is going to be a difficult crisis to solve… but we can’t keep putting it on the back-burner.
There’s never a good time in terms of money, but there’s no better time than today.”