The crisis of affordable and secure housing is widely seen as the number one problem facing Australians.

Opinion polls confirm that the cost and availability of affordable and quality housing is at the top of people’s minds. There is a generational pessimism that young people will ever own their own home.

Everybody’s Home has found that renting a unit now costs more than half the median take-home pay of a single worker in every capital city. It said that even those on six-figure incomes face rents that exceed 30% of their income. To pay the national median rent, someone on $40,000 would need to spend 89% of their income. For $70,000 earners, it’s 56%; for $100,000 earners, it’s 41% and for those on $130,000 earners it’s 33%.

Since the group’s last annual Priced Out report, renters have to find an extra $48 a week — nearly $2,500 a year — to cover the national median rent.

While this is being widely reported, so too are scare campaigns in response to the........

© Green Left Weekly