Dole recipients will only be able to afford NINE rental properties in Australia if payments are reduced back to pre-coronavirus level
- Anglicare report has found only nine out of 70,000 rental homes are affordable
- With current COVID-19 welfare, recipients can afford 1040 out of 70,000 rentals
- Only 743 properties were affordable for those living on the age pension
- There's now fears welfare recipients may be homeless if payments are halved
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Only nine rental listings in Australia would be affordable for JobSeeker recipients if the payment returns to the level it was before the coronavirus pandemic.
Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin or Canberra would have no affordable rental listings under the old rate, a report released on Thursday shows.
The federal government has doubled the JobSeeker payment, previously called Newstart, to help Australians through the economic fallout of COVID-19.
Anglicare Australia's Rental Affordability Snapshot found only 1040 of nearly 70,000 current rental listings in Australia are affordable under the boosted level of payment.
The annual Anglicare Australia's Rental Affordability Snapshot found that dole recipients would be able to afford just nine out of nearly 70,000 rental properties if payments are stripped back to what they were before coronavirus (pictured: people outside Centrelink in Adelaide)
The snapshot looked at 69,960 listings on March 21 this year, dubbing any rental that would require welfare recipients to spend more than 30 per cent of their payment on rent as unaffordable.
Executive director Kasy Chambers wants the temporary rise in the JobSeeker payment to be permanent and extended to pensioners and people with disabilities.
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'Welfare increases have given people badly needed relief,' Ms Chambers said.
'But the market is still failing people on the lowest incomes.'
JobSeeker recipients receive $1100 a fortnight, up from the Newstart rate of around $550 a fortnight.
Ms Chambers warned if the payment was halved in the next six months, renters would be pushed into homelessness.
Anglicare also wants the government to invest in social housing, saying 500,000 affordable rental properties are needed across the country.
'Investing in housing would be the most powerful way to tackle the rental crisis - and boost our economy,' she said.
It also found older Australians would be able to afford only 743 of 69,960 rental listings under the age pension.
People on the disability support pension would only be able to afford 326 of those listings.
'Nobody should be squeezed out of the market during a health emergency,' Ms Chambers said.
The report points to estimates that up to 1.4 million Australians could end up on the JobSeeker payment.
Labor, the Greens and former prime minister Tony Abbott have suggested the enhanced dole rate should be kept once the crisis is over.
Anglicare Executive director Kasy Chambers warned that if payments were halved in the next six months, many on the dole could be left homeless
