A larger slice of the pie: How much are low-income renters paying for a roof over their heads in the eastern suburbs?

Heidi Tucker, the chief executive of local homelessness support organisation Anchor Community Care, says the growing unaffordability of rental properties across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs is one of the drivers behind renters being forced into homelessness.

And new figures released this week have revealed the full extent of the region’s rental crisis. 

✍️Rental report: Released this week, the Rental Affordability Index’s June 2025 quarterly report has found Melbourne’s eastern suburbs have the highest concentration of “unaffordable” and “severely unaffordable” locations.

• The annual report is a collaboration between National Shelter and SGS Economics and Planning.

💰What is “affordable”? The report categorised affordability of a property based on the percentage of pre-tax income an occupant would be spending on rent.

• Those spending 38 to 60 percent of their pre-tax income would fall into “severely unaffordable”,

• Those spending 30 to 37 percent would be considered as “unaffordable”. 

• Those spending 25 to 29 percent would be seen as “moderately unaffordable”.

Who’s copping it the worst? The suburbs with the worst score on the index included Balwyn North and Warrandyte, with renters within these areas spending about 38 to 39 percent of their pre-tax income on rent.

• Other poorly performing areas included Camberwell – the fifth worst Melbourne suburb for rental affordability with more than 80 rental records – Donvale and Templestowe.

💲Where is affordable? On the flip side, suburbs within Melbourne’s eastern suburbs considered to have “acceptable” rental prices included Bayswater and Boronia, both seeing renters spend about 25 percent of their income on rent.

A local example: Anchor Community Care’s Heidi Tucker told the Eastern Melburnian one of their clients, a tradie in his 30s, came to them for support after he and his son had been living in a car for a number of months.

• “A couple of years ago, his wife unexpectedly died,” said Tucker. “They were renting and they were reliant on two wages. It got to a point where he couldn’t go any longer and had to give up the rental property.”

📈Growing problem: Tucker said young people, single parents and older pensioners were the most vulnerable demographics due to their fixed income.

• “They can’t even afford to find a room,” said Tucker. “Landlords know that they’ve got 30 to 50 people who’d be interested in their one place and so they can just name their price.”

• During 2024/25, Anchor’s homelessness services experienced a 250 percent increase in rough sleeper reports.

🏙️Not enough properties: Tucker said the scarcity of housing stock also meant when circumstances pushed renters out, there was often no supply to meet the new demand.

🛑Limits needed: Greens Richmond MP and Victorian Greens renting and housing spokesperson, Gabrielle de Vietri, said the Federal Government should consider rent controls as a way to drive down rental costs.

• 🗣️“How can renters even start to put together a savings plan when they are being smashed by rents across the state with no reprieve in sight?” said de Vietri.

🏘️Building boosts: Housing Minister and Hotham MP, Clare O’Neil, recently announced the third round of funding under the Housing Australia Future Fund, which would help build 21,000 new social and affordable homes across the country by June 2029.

• 🗣️“Australia’s housing crisis comes from a housing shortage so all governments have to build,” said O’Neil.