There are only 415 houses that are advertised for rent at prices at or below the median house rental price of $450 in Perth according to the Real Estate Institute WA (REIWA).
Dr Honey said that in addition to the hospital crisis, the chronic rental crisis in Perth underscores how the McGowan Labor Government has failed to prepare for the opening of our borders over the past two years through their mismanagement of the State.
“The rental crisis in Perth is already resulting in more than 30 people chasing just one rental property as reported by 7 News on the 16/12/21.
“The tragedy is that the odds for these distressed families of renting a house are now lower than winning the Melbourne Cup.
“The number of houses advertised for $450 or less are in the single digits in many Perth Suburbs.
“This includes Rockingham, which has only eight houses advertised for rent in this price range. Rockingham, which is the Premiers electorate, was once deemed one of the most affordable places for families to live in Perth.
“The State Labor Government simply has no plan in place to deal with the massive pressure that will be placed on the already over stressed rental housing marking in Perth once the borders eventually re-open.
“Labor constantly announce grandiose plans but in reality, nothing is happening on the ground because of their mismanagement of critical areas whether it be in health, housing, education or even transport,” Dr Honey said.
Shadow Minister for Housing, the Hon Steve Martin MLC, said Western Australian families in the rental market faced a perfect storm with very low rental vacancy rates and a social housing waitlist at a five year high.
“It doesn’t matter how we compare to other Australian states for rental affordability – there simply aren’t any homes available and Labor has no plan to deal with the crisis.
“Metropolitan Perth rental vacancy numbers are bad, and areas of regional WA are worse.
“In Bunbury, which is our largest regional city, the rental vacancy rate has collapsed to just 0.1% in the December 2021 compared to 0.6% one months earlier.
“There are just 30 houses in the Bunbury area with a median rental price of $450 or below.
“In other regional centres such as Busselton it is nearly impossible to get a rental property because the rental vacancy rate stands at zero,” said Mr Martin.
The state housing market is also facing enormous pressure with frustrated families unable to find suitable accommodation.
“Labor has sold off hundreds of government houses state-wide and is now unable to control a massive rise in the social housing waitlist,” Mr Martin said.
“Over 18,000 applicants are on the social housing waitlist – representing over 31,000 people – the highest number in five years.
“Over 2000 applicants have been on the wait list for more than 250 weeks.”
