I enjoy shitting outdoors as much as the next person. Showering? Even better. And, it seems I’m not alone. Living outdoors has taken on cult status in my neighbourhood. It’s so hot right now. The Debbie Downers amongst us refer to this as, ‘the housing crisis’. Fans of this blog might be aware that we lost about 400 houses to bushfires in 2020. Quite naturally, many people assume that this is at the heart of our current situation, where numerous families are living in the local camping ground. The reality is more complicated.
Up to one in four houses in our Shire is an empty holiday rental. Two of the most affected (read; torched) suburbs were predominantly empty suburbs. On the other hand, there many ‘informal’ houses burned. These were dwellings built by ambitious people on bush properties where building was banned due to…….bushfire regulations. These people, uninsured, were left homeless. Indeed, even ‘legitimate’ houses were uninsured – insurance in most of the Shire sits around 4k per annum – well beyond the reach of many working couples with kids. Many people left the area. Some stayed but are living in temporary accomodation on their burned land. Like I said, it’s complicated.
So, who is really homeless in our region, and why? Well, it’s mostly people who were already at the bottom of the housing ladder, living in rental accommodation they could just just afford with a combination of work and welfare. Many of them arrived in our region a few years ago, as prices increased in other areas, like Nowra and Canberra. These families were most vulnerable to a shock.
And, that shock was partly the bushfires, but it had much, much more to do with a nationwide demographic shift that no one talks about; the separation crisis.
…. there was a large 17.1 per cent rise in the number of single person households between 2016 and 2021 Censuses, in part caused by relationship breakdowns and share houses dissolving due to COVID lockdowns. By comparison, there was only a 7.1% increase in single person households between 2011 and 2016 Census.
AHURI Nov 2022
There has been a massive increase in people forming new households, often with kids. This has an enormous impact on housing availability, and yet it’s something that is hardly ever discussed.
Less important locally, but something that speaks to the broader picture, is the reopening of Australia’s borders to international students, thus reinstating the ‘wealth effect’ for Australia’s property owning class.
The lack of rental housing was temporarily alleviated during the COVID pandemic when international students and workers were restricted from living in Australia. At that time vacancy rates across Sydney reached 4 per cent in May 2020 (and 16.2% in the CBD) and 4.7 per cent in Melbourne.
AHURI Nov 2022
Do you think Australia’s housing stock has increased in line with this graph?
Australia’s universities obtain up to 50% of their funding from international students. It is Australia’s fourth biggest export earner. International students contribute around 39 billion dollars to the Australian economy. As I have said before this is not primarily about selling education. Rather, it is selling residency, and milking as much money out of new residents as possible. Importantly, these tenants do not show up in the current batch of immigration data, which estimates that around half a million people move to Australia each year.
And, obviously, the wealth flows not just to universities, but to property owners, who rent apartments to students, as well as business owners who employ students for their cheap labour, the benefits of which are felt by Australian citizens, who can buy a ridiculously cheap bibimbap. The connections into our domestic economy are myriad, but essentially, international students are another form of economic exchange by which Australia capitalises on the difference between its own currency and that of a (marginally) poorer nation. Whether its buying cheap clothes from Kmart, manufactured offshore, or cheap vegetables harvested by cheap labour in the Riverina.
Most of the controversy and shit-slinging around housing is directed at landlords who house Australian born tenants, leaving the real magnates alone. I’m not an apologist for either, but it’s interesting how this is framed up.
Next post – ‘why don’t you just move out west?’
The Mutton Flap 