THE average essential worker in northern Victoria spends about half of their wage on rent, creating pressure that is pricing workers out of their communities, a report has warned.
National housing advocacy organisation Everybody’s Home compared data on rents against the award wages for 15 essential worker categories.
In northern Victoria, which includes Mildura, it was found that the average essential worker spent 49.2 per cent of their income on rent.
Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said essential workers were the backbone of communities, but were being “priced out” because of “unsustainable rises in rents”.
“More and more essential workers are being pushed into serious rental stress,” she said.
“Virtually no region in Australia is affordable for our aged care workers, early childhood carers, cleaners, nurses and many other essential workers we rely on.
“So many essential industries are facing workforce shortages with workers unable to afford to stay or move to parts of the country where these shortages are at their worst.”
The report, Priced Out: An Index of Affordable Rentals for Australia’s Essential Workers, found that the average Australian employee spent about two thirds of their income on housing.
In northern Victoria, hospitality workers and meat packers were found to have the highest percentage of their wage spent on rent at 54 per cent.
Firefighters and school teachers were found to have spent the least at 39 per cent.
Essential workers in northern Victoria were better off than those in Melbourne, where on average 64.9 per cent was spent on rent.
The report said across Victoria there were no affordable regions for any of the essential workers profiled in the report, which included aged care workers, childcare workers, construction workers, nurses and retail workers.
For rents to be considered affordable, they must be no more than 30 per cent of the household budget.
In the 12 months to February this year, rents in the Mildura region increased 9.9 per cent, with the median rent sitting at $398, according to CoreLogic.
The Priced Out report said it was likely rental stress would be severe for essential workers in single-parent households, and essential workers in coupled households were likely to be dependent on their partner’s income.
Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union national secretary Zach Smith said the report was hard evidence of “exactly what we hear every day from our members”.
Mr Smith said the CFMEU would not stop fighting for more social housing to be built as it was a “top-line issue” for members that would help the problem.
“Australia is on the precipice of a social housing cliff with more and more workers teetering on the edge,” he said.
“We are at a pivotal moment. This is an incredible opportunity to address a massive crisis while also creating thousands of good jobs which help the country through commitments on training, safety and procurement.”
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Average percentage of income spent on rent in northern Victoria
Aged care worker – 52%
Ambulance officer – 43%
Childcare worker – 53%
Cleaner – 51%
Construction worker – 50%
Delivery driver – 50%
Dispatcher – 53%
Firefighter – 39%
Freight driver – 52%
Hospitality worker – 54%
Meat packer – 54%
Nurse – 48%
Postal worker – 51%
Retail worker – 50%
School teacher – 39%
Source: Everybody’s Home
