Alert – The one group of Aussies set to miss out in the Budget – despite Anthony Albanese’s cost-of-living relief promises

ns struggling to pay their rent are unlikely to get any immediate reprieve from the Albanese government when it hands down its Budget on Tuesday.

The weekly median rent for Sydneysiders currently sits at $770 per week, while in Melbourne it’s $589, according to Core Logic.

Aussies have been struggling to keep up with rental payments or even find a place to live in, with queues for open houses stretching hundreds of metres.

The median weekly rent for properties across is now an at all-time high of $627, with rental vacancies at less than one per cent in capital cities.

Maiy Azize, spokesperson for housing crisis campaign group, Everybody’s Home, said the government should look to enforce caps on rental increases, like other countries have done.

Her comment comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese talked up the Budget on Tuesday promising cost-of-living relief would be given to millions of ns. 

ns struggling to pay their rent are unlikely to get any immediate reprieve from the government when it hands down its Budget on Tuesday (pictured is a crowd lining up for a rental home inspection in Bondi)

”s a bit of an outlier,’ Ms Azize told news.com.au. 

‘We’re seeing the impacts of steep increases in rent prices and so if the government wanted to offer some immediate relief, they could support limits and work with state and territory ministers to get it done.’ 

Seven in 10 ns are under rental stress, the January 2024 InfoChoice Rent Crisis Survey reported.

From about 1,000 renters surveyed, 40 per cent said their rent had soared by 10 per cent, with many now fearing they’ll soon have to move out. 

Mr Albanese told 3AW on Tuesday that ns will wake up tomorrow morning to a range of financial perks delivered by the Budget.

‘They’ll wake up knowing that if they’re a taxpayer, they’re getting a tax cut on July 1,’ he said.

‘They’ll wake up knowing if they’re a student with $3 billion dollars of tax debt.

‘If they’re doing a course to become a teacher or a nurse, that that their prac will be paid. 

‘They know that the government now has $32billion dollars of investment in housing; that we’re investing in infrastructure; that will have an increased number of urgent care clinics… and the government has a plan to make more things here.’

Ahead of the Budget, Mr Albanese announced a $9.3billion five-year National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness for states and territories to address homelessness, build social housing and provide crisis support.

Labor is sticking to its pledge to build 1.2million homes over five years, but achieving that requires building 240,000 houses a year.

Last year, just 168,690 new homes were built even though a record 548,800 new migrants, on a net basis, moved to in the year to September.

With 2.5 people per household, on average, that leaves a shortfall of more than 127,000 new homes to cater for new permanent and long-term overseas arrivals before births are even factored in.

The Albanese government has also invested $25billion in new housing developments over the next decade, including $2billion towards more social and affordable rental homes.

But Ms Azize said more relief needed to be given to struggling Aussies now.

‘People are really doing it tough. They simply can’t keep up with these rent increases,’ she said.

Calls have also been put forward to increase the JobSeeker payment.

Last year, the government increased the Commonwealth Rent Assistance payment by 15 per cent.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down the Budget on Tuesday

The payment helps vulnerable ns by giving those eligible a non-taxable income supplement.

Charmaine Crowe, program director of social security at the n Council of Social Services, said the JobSeeker payment needed to rise with it.

She said less than half of those on JobSeeker qualified for the rental assistance payment. 

‘Even if Rent Assistance was increased, without a substantial base rate increase for JobSeeker and related payments, it would likely do little to reduce rental stress because JobSeeker and Youth Allowance are so low,’ she told the publication.

The rental crisis in has gotten so bad that an international student is now looking for people to share a bed and contribute to his weekly rent.

Belgian student William Vanneste, 22, is living in a two-bedroom home in Lane Cove, in Sydney’s lower north shore, while he completes a three-month internship.

Mr Vanneste lived in the furnished rental with two Frenchmen who decided to share a bed and halve their portion of the $1,150 weekly rent.

The students’ recent departure has left Mr Vanneste in the difficult position of finding someone to fill the vacancy and share a bed with a complete stranger.

Charmaine Crowe, program director of social security at the n Council of Social Services, said the JobSeeker payment needed to rise (stock image)

He advertised the unusual living arrangements in a post on Facebook which explained there were only two beds available.

‘So the probability is very high you end up sharing your bed, but they’re very large and we respect privacy, so if you don’t mind, you’re welcome!’ he wrote.

‘If needed, we can buy an inflatable mattress for one of us.’

Rents are going up faster in areas between 30 and 40km from city centres, CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen reported.

‘Part of the reason for the re-acceleration in rents nationally could be due to renters being forced into more affordable, peripheral housing markets as they become priced out of more desirable and central metropolitan locations,’ she said.