The 2016 Rental Affordability snapshot found that just 0.5% of rental properties advertised on the weekend of April 2 and 3 were affordable for single people living on a Disability Support Pension anywhere in Australia.

It’s even worse for those trying to live in our cities, with just 0.1% of properties affordable for singles on a Disability Support Pension. To put that into perspective, that’s just 5 of the 57,307 properties advertised in every Australian city, assuming they were even accessible.

Not a single rental property was affordable in Greater Sydney, Perth or Brisbane, just three were affordable in Adelaide, and four in Melbourne.

In Hobart, 69 were affordable for someone living on a Disability Support Pension. No figures were provided for Darwin.

Anglicare Australia Executive Director, Kasy Chambers, said the upcoming Federal Election was an ideal opportunity to put housing affordability at the front and centre of the upcoming Federal Election.

“Now, more than ever, we need a national plan for affordable housing. We need to recalibrate our tax system, increase the supply of affordable housing to match people’s needs, and increase and renew social housing stock,” she said.

Last year Every Australian Counts supporters campaigned hard for a national housing plan to provide safe, affordable, accessible housing for people with disability.

So far the Commonwealth has committed to housing pilots in the Hunter trial sites, and a national working group is considering the lack of affordable housing across Australia, including for people with disability.

Earlier this month the NDIA released its position paper on how funding for specialist disability accommodation will be provided under the NDIS.

But there are still unanswered questions and a chronic lack of affordable and accessible housing for people with disability in all states and territories.

As this new report so shockingly highlights, the fight is not over yet.

Further reading

Media release: Too many still locked out of affordable housing

Full report: Anglicare Australia Rental Affordability Snapshot