The NSW Council of Social Service is stating – what we probably already know – The state’s housing crisis is pushing more people into poverty, as new research shows that private renters and public housing tenants in NSW are increasingly falling below the poverty line.
With home ownership becoming more out of reach, the research notes that older people reaching retirement age but still in the private rental market contribute to this increase.
It’s particularly an issue for older women, with 53 per cent of older women in the private rental market now living below the poverty line, up from 34 per cent in 2016. The service’s CEO Joanna Quilty claims that some mortgage holders in Port Kembla, Shellharbour and Kiama are now living on the breadline.