A severe housing crisis is hitting low-income earners, with few affordable accommodation options available to them, a report from the charity group Anglicare shows.
A survey of 65,614 properties available online over one weekend found only 618 across the country suitable for a couple on unemployment benefits with two children.
A single parent with two children had just 165 options to put a roof over their heads.
Someone on unemployment benefits would largely fail to find cheap housing in an Australian city, where most of the jobs are, the report said.
Singles on welfare are among the most disadvantaged looking for housing, it found, with less than 1% of properties affordable.
Anglicare said people from all walks of life were forgoing daily necessities to pay the rent. Others were living in overcrowded houses, couch-surfing, or living in cars, parks, shelters or doorways.
It is using the findings to call on the government to develop a national plan to resolve the housing shortage, including targeting negative gearing.
“This [negative gearing] is a huge amount of money from the taxpayer to the wealthy and we’d like to see some obligation back,” executive director Kasy Chambers said.
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