Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Jess is a 27-year-old teacher who lives in a small apartment in Prahran. She has met every expectation one could hope for. She got a skill; she pays her taxes; she even coaches the local netball team on weekends. Along with 35 per cent of my constituents, Jess is a renter, but she'd love to have her own place. She wants the same social mobility that her parents enjoyed, and who can blame her? But, these days, a teacher's wage is scarcely enough to pay the rent, let alone secure a deposit.

In Higgins, the median rent sits at $420 a week. Over 27 per cent of renters experience rental stress, losing more than 30 per cent of their income to rent. With a median property price of $1.7 million in Prahran, $2.1 million in South Yarra, $1.6 million in Windsor, $1.6 million in Murrumbeena and $1.7 million in Carnegie, stumping up a deposit has never been harder. For the 71,000 people below the age of 34 in Higgins, the prospect of homeownership has become like chasing a mirage in the desert. There are many Jesses who want a better life.

We have brought together industry, banks, super funds and three tiers of government to build more than a million homes over five years. This is on top of the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which will build 30,000 social and affordable homes over five years and then into perpetuity. A shared equity scheme for modest-income earners and the regional homeowner scheme, which is already being taken up— (Time expired)

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