Homes for Everyone
Western Australia is in the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis. Despite being the wealthiest state in one of the world's richest nations, Western Australians are being priced out of having a safe, secure place to call home. This is having devastating consequences with a surge in homelessness, including a growing number of working people experiencing homelessness.
In four years, Perth has gone from being Australia’s most affordable capital city for renters to the most expensive. Across WA, the median rent in WA is now $650 per week, seeing a 16% increase in just one year. Less than 1% of properties are within reach for minimum wage earners, and not a single rental property in WA is affordable for someone on JobSeeker. Families are also under pressure - a couple with two children on income support could afford only 8 out of nearly 3,000 available rentals.
This is compounded by a severe shortage of affordable and social housing. There are currently over 20,000 applications for social housing, with average wait times of almost 3 years.
The situation in our own local community is reaching breaking point, with rental prices skyrocketing by 62% in the last four years. In our local area, a house that cost $425 per week to rent in 2021 now costs $687 per week. Across all the suburbs in the electorate of Bassendean, not a single rental (house or unit) is available for less than $460 per week, with only 69 properties in total advertised for rent.
The Real Estate Industry WA (REIWA) says that a functioning rental market should have a vacancy rate of 2.5% to 3.5%, but since 2019, WA’s rental vacancy rates have been far below what’s considered a functioning market, currently sitting below 1%. Our rental vacancy rate is currently sitting at only 0.2%, or put another way 2 homes available to rent for every 1,000 homes in the area.
Meanwhile, over 118,000 homes sit vacant across WA - that's 11% of our total housing stock. The Cook government has an incentive scheme to encourage vacant homes into the long-term rental market, however to date the $5,000 payment to property investors has brought just 312 properties back to the long-term rental market. While there are many reasons homes may be vacant (such as family holiday homes or renovations), if just 10% of vacant properties were brought into the long term rental market that would be almost 12,000 additional homes.
We need urgent action to help ensure people in our community can stay in their homes, and forward-thinking interventions to grow housing supply and make more homes available, including:
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An affordable rental housing scheme to replace the Commonwealth scheme that is coming to an end
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Rent stabilisation to prevent skyrocking rental prices until the rental market is at a stable vacancy rate of 2.5 to 3.5%
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Strong action to encourage vacant homes into the private rental market and discourage ‘land banking’ practices.
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Expansion of successful housing, tiny home and granny flat projects, seen here in WA and learning from elsewhere too
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Western Australia to join all the other States in abolishing no reason evictions, to provide housing security to renters and address the current imbalance of power between renters and landlords.
This isn't just about numbers - it's about ensuring everyone in our community has access to secure, affordable housing. It's about preventing homelessness, reducing financial stress on families, and building a fairer Western Australia. We can solve this crisis, but it requires political will and decisive action. The solutions are clear - we just need the courage to implement them.
References:
Shelter WA State Election Platform 2025
ABC News, Perth becomes most expensive capital city to rent - ABC News
Anglicare WA, 2024 Rental Affordability Snapshot
Median rental costs for postcode 6054, SQM Research
Realestate search for rentals available in Ashfield, Bassendean, Bayswater, Beechboro, Bennett Springs, Eden Hill, Embleton, Kiara, Lockridge and Morley (13 January 2025).