Lennox Head renters are ‘doing it tough’
Almost half of Lennox Head residents who are renting are under ‘rental stress’, according to the Housing Industry Association (HIA).
Based on information gleaned from the 2006 Census, the HIA says the median rent in Lennox is $280 per week, and 49 per cent of households are under rental stress (where 30 per cent or more of weekly income is spent on rent).
“The data confirms that there are now more than 180,000 New South Wales households in rental stress,” HIA’s NSW Executive Director Graham Wolfe said.
“Regional New South Wales is doing it particularly tough. In many regions, every second household is spending at least a third of their gross income on rent.
“NSW regional cities suffering the worst effects of rent stress are Tweed Heads, Kempsey, Ulladulla, Lismore, Forster, Dubbo, Orange, Wollongong, Goulburn and Eden. These regional cities have more than 1 in every 2 rental households suffering housing stress.”
Lennox Head is 18th on the list of the top 30 towns or cities suffering rental stress.
Heading the list is Brunswick Heads, with a median weekly rent of $200 and 65.3 per cent of households in rental stress.
Other local figures are:
Byron Bay (third on the list, median weekly rent $280 and 62.9 per cent of households suffering rental stress).
Lismore (eighth on the list, median weekly rent $145 and 56.2 per cent of households suffering rental stress).
Mr Wolfe said: “This is not just an affordable housing issue. If left unchecked, this rental crisis has the capacity to erode the social infrastructure of regional NSW.
“Regional NSW competes with Sydney in attracting young tradesmen and women, teachers, health workers and the like. Rental stress only discourages these essential workers, meaning that regional NSW continues to miss out.
“We need to address the fundamental shortage in the supply of new housing. Governments need to commit to greater investment in infrastructure necessary to support residential development, that’s why HIA has developed the Residential Infrastructure Fund.”
Faced with the worst housing affordability crisis on record, HIA has developed a comprehensive housing policy that outlines policy proposals that if implemented would provide over 50,000 more affordable houses for aspiring home owners and renters alike.
HIA says its Residential Infrastructure Fund rewards State and local government who remove costly red tape imposed on new residential development by offering Federal funding to deliver essential and community infrastructure. HIA believes the RIF could reduce the cost of a new house by as much as $40,000.
In addition to HIA’s RIF, a Home Super Saver scheme is proposed that would allow employees to salary sacrifice a percentage of their wage towards a deposit for a home of their own.
“More young Australians are feeling the pinch of larger loans. We need to reward saving by offering young people some incentives to save for a home. The Home Super Saver is a great way of helping those struggling to save a deposit,” Mr Wolfe said.
September 20th, 2007 at 11:54 am
The point about social infrastructure is an important one in my opinion. The local area already has a reputation as being for older people, and the price of housing only forces this to continue.
How can a young person afford to move here and look for work? The only people who can afford to live here are those that have had the family home for generations and retirees from the bigger population areas.
September 20th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
It would be good to see our local government back the HIA’s RIF scheme and qualify for Federal funding to give locals a break.
Salary sacrifice for a deposit is a great idea as well and would allow some of the young people who grew up in the areato be able to afford to build and bring their families up here too. Their only alternative is to pay ‘holiday rents’ or move away.