People living on the outskirts of Brisbane, and regional Queenslanders, are struggling to pay their rent, analysis reveals.
The latest Rental Vulnerability Index, commissioned by Tenants Queensland, goes beyond a simple measure of affordability, and looks at social and economic pressures affecting the state's renters.
Somerset, Logan, Southern Downs and Gladstone made it into Queensland's top 10 local government areas for rental vulnerability, according to research by the University of New South Wales' City Futures Research Centre, incorporating 2016 Census data.
The index delved into the availability of rental housing that was affordable based on the area's incomes, social housing and marginal tenures such as boarding houses, as well as personal indicators such as unemployment, low education, disability, single-parent households and young and old renters.
It identified clusters of indicators to find regions of "rental vulnerability".
Increasing numbers of elderly people were also struggling to pay their rent, particularly in Bundaberg, Gympie, Moreton Bay and the Fraser Coast.
During the past five years, the proportion of people older than 65 who were renting had generally increased, with the highest proportions living in the regions.
Tenants Queensland chief executive Penny Carr said elderly and low-income families in regional areas were struggling to afford to keep a roof over their heads.
"The data is telling us that regional areas have a pressing need for services - such as tenant advice services - that give vulnerable households material assistance in dealing with housing problems," she said.
"These places have high rates of unemployment, disability, low education and older people in rental housing.
"They also have high incidences of rental stress - even though median rents are low compared to Brisbane."
City Futures Research Centre chief investigator Laurence Troy said there was plenty of research on the "suburbanisation of disadvantage".
"This is the phenomenon of high housing costs pushing out and shutting out low-income and otherwise disadvantaged households from city centres," he said.
Dr Troy said the index showed in Queensland the process was extending to become a "regionalisation of disadvantage".
"We need to build up the economic and social capital of these places, so that they offer greater opportunities for the vulnerable households who are concentrated there - just as we need policies to increase affordable housing opportunities in our cities and regions," he said.
The Rental Vulnerability Index can be viewed here.
Queensland's top 10 most vulnerable rental local government areas
- Bundaberg
- South Burnett
- Moreton Bay
- Fraser Coast
- Somerset
- Gladstone
- Gympie
- Southern Downs
- Mackay
- Logan
