🟠 Are landlords pinching more of your pay?

WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

• FRIDAY 28/11/25 | Arj Barker - The Mind Field

• SUNDAY 30/11/25, 9AM-1PM | Mooroolbark Community Garden Market

• SUNDAY 30/11/25, 10AM-2PM | Tabulam and Templer Homes for the Aged Weihnachtsmarkt

• SUNDAY 30/11/25, 5PM | Kitty Flanagan - Gladgame

• WEDNESDAY 03/12/25, 6-8PM | Murky Melbourne

• COLDSTREAM — EVERY DAY UNTIL 24/12/25; WANDIN — EVERY DAY to 04/01/26, EXCLUDING CHRISTMAS DAY | Cherry Picking @ Cherry Hill Orchards

📰 THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

Tucker said the scarcity of housing stock also meant when circumstances pushed renters out, there was often no supply to meet the new demand.

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.

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.

“It’s okay to ask for help”: Casey MP joins non-partisan men’s mental health push

You often see Liberal, Labor and independent MPs yelling at each other across the parliament floor during Question Time.

However, three key Federal MPs have found some common ground: the importance of men’s mental health.

Last Wednesday, Liberal Casey MP Aaron Violi joined ACT senator David Pocock and Labor MP and Special Envoy for Men’s Health Dan Repacholi to launch the Parliamentary Friends of Healthy Masculinities.

Violi said the group would act as “a non-partisan forum for parliamentarians to meet with organisations on matters relating to positive masculinity, stronger relationships, safer communities and better outcomes for men and boys, as well as for women and families”.

“Dan, Dave and I grew up in a generation where it wasn’t okay as a man to talk about your feelings, we were taught to bottle it up and to always show strength,” Violi told the Eastern Melburnian. “It’s important young men know how to express their feelings, deal with emotions and that it is okay to ask for help.”

Speaking to reporters, Violi said he was “lucky to find good role models” within his local sport communities after his parents separated when he was in Grade 6 and no longer had a father figure at home.

“Looking back, like many young men, I self-medicated through alcohol,” said Violi. “That was a cultural norm, but it wasn’t healthy.”

Coinciding with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Monday, Violi spoke in Parliament about how healthier interpretations of masculinity would help drive down the prevalence of violence against women.

“We need to call out any inappropriate behaviour made by our friends, our colleagues and our workmates,” said Violi. “We need to make sure that all men understand that violence is not acceptable in any circumstance.”

For mental health support, contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Men's Line on 1300 78 99 78.

SEEN THIS WEEK 🤓

Investment investigation

The National Account reporter Archie Milligan took a deeper look into why the Federal Government is ignoring its own report it commissioned two years ago calling for a ban on gambling ads, despite it admitting gambling fuels domestic violence.

Watch the video below to find out more.

Our December edition of What’s On