Open For Inspection? Private rental stress in the Eastern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne

This research project was developed by Wesley Mission Victoria and the Tenants Union of Victoria to build a better understanding of issues related to the private rental market that are affecting families on low incomes, using the Eastern Metropolitan Region as an example. The report discusses findings across the board in terms of age, income and other areas of difficulties facing renters in the private market. One major sub-group of renters commonly referred to by service providers in interview data as struggling are older people. Many older renters have been in stable rental accommodation for extended periods of time, thirty years in the case of one older renter mentioned in the interview data. The two most common problems cited in the data are increasing evictions, so the owner can renovate or sell the property, and rising rents, with one service provider reporting that it regularly sees older people paying an average of 50 to 70 percent of their income in rent. (page 44-45 of the report)