This map shows where in Sydney a full-time minimum wage worker will be able to afford to rent a one-bedroom unit after the July 1 pay increase.These five suburbs, shown in blue on the map, are all at least 40 kilometres from the city centre. They make up just 0.1 per cent of the Sydney suburbs with available data, according to a Fairfax Media analysis of advertised rents over the past two years.The analysis calculates the number of hours a minimum wage earner would need to work to rent a one-bedroom unit for 30 per cent of their pre-tax income – a widely-used measure of housing affordability.Minimum wage workers will receive a 2.5 per cent pay increase to $17.29 an hour ($656.90 a week) from July 1, which means a full-time worker on this wage can afford to spend up to $197 a week on housing, according to the 30 per cent test.This still prices them out of 99.9 per cent of the 440 Sydney suburbs with available data. (About 100 suburbs had insufficient data, possibly because there aren't many one-bedroom units available.)
To rent in The Rocks – the priciest location – a minimum wage earner would need to work nearly 22 hours a day, seven days a week.They would only need to work 33 hours a week to rent in the cheapest suburb, Llandilo. But then they would be living 57 kilometres from the city centre.The closest affordable neighbourhood to the city centre is Glenfield, 40 kilometres west of the CBD.A full-time worker earning the average NSW wage of $1492 a week ($39.27 an hour) can afford to spend up to $448 a week on housing. This would allow them to rent a one-bedroom unit in 78 per cent of suburbs. Here's the map for full-time workers earning the average wage.Pushing the poorest residents to the margins of the city undermines the wellbeing of all residents, for at least five reasons. To rent in The Rocks, a minimum wage earner would need to work nearly 22 hours a day, seven days a week. "You need all sorts of people to run a city. You need people to clean it, to wipe tables, work in banks – all those sorts of occupations," says Peter Phibbs, head of urban and regional planning in the faculty of architecture at the University of Sydney.Driving single parents, students, artists and other low-income workers out to the fringes can reduce a city's vibrancy and social cohesion, research has shown.
Forcing workers to travel long distances creates a drag on the city's economy and increases the burden on roads and public transport."If the only way you can run your city is to have people travelling very long distances, that puts pressure on your transport system. It's one of the reasons congestion has increased," professor Phibbs says."And where you're subsidising the cost of public transport, then the cost of your subsidy goes up."One 2013 report found that jobseekers couldn't afford to live in any of the 40 Australian regions where they were most likely to find jobs.And low income workers living far from job opportunities are more vulnerable to long-term unemployment."A lot of people just end up dropping out of the employment market … [which] further widens the gap between the have and have-nots," according to professor Phibbs.Long commutes also place significant strain on families and limit women's participation in the job market, research shows. This is because women typically have primary responsibility for the care of young children and elderly relatives, so often need to stay close to home.
As Fairfax Media has previously reported, the male labour force participation rate in outer-Sydney suburbs is about 25 per cent higher than the female rate.Disadvantage is compounded in cities where low-income residents are priced out of the interior, which offers better opportunities and more highly-paid jobs, says Dallas Rogers, an urban studies lecturer at the University of Western Sydney."You push the lower income groups to the edges of the city. Those areas are poorly serviced by public transport. There are fewer jobs out there."And then in public discourse we start to blame them for not getting a job. There's a systemic dimension to this, to how we design cities," he says. Dr Rogers suggests governments either raise the minimum wage or consider benchmarking the rent of low-income workers to their wages."So if you're on minimum wage, your rent would need to be set according to your wage, not the market. Public housing is a good example of that … but we're moving away from that approach," Dr Rogers says.
The NSW Greens have proposed to strengthen protection for renters by capping rent increases to inflation, limiting increases to one per year, and banning "no grounds" evictions – for example, when the landlord evicts a tenant so they can significantly raise the rent."In the Marrickville LGA [local government area], median rents increased by 207 per cent between 1991 and 2011. In Greater Sydney they've increased by 163 per cent," says The Greens MP for Newtown Jenny Leong."What we need is a radical shakeup."Average rent for each suburb was calculated by Dr Andrew Wilson of the Domain Group using rental listings from the past two years. Domain is owned by Fairfax Media. 4 stars or above 3 stars or above 2 stars or above 1 star or above Bed Sheets + Pillowcases A well-dressed bed makes for a comfortable place to sleep. Find bed sheets at Target that come in a range of colours to match and compliment your doona covers. Our fitted sheets and flat sheets are available to fit single, double, queen and king sized beds.
There's also pillowcases to buy individually or as part of a bedding set. THE PERFECT SHEETS FOR YOU Everything you need to know about Target Sheets > Target 250 Thread Count Cotton Fitted Sheet Rated 3 out of 5 stars Target 250 Thread Count Cotton Flat Sheet Target 2 Pack 250 Thread Count Cotton Standard Pillowcases Target 2 Pack 250 Thread Count Cotton European Pillowcases Target 500 Thread Count Australian Cotton Fitted Sheet Target 2 Pack 500 Thread Count Cotton Pillowcase Target 500 Thread Count Australian Cotton Flat Sheet Rated 5 out of 5 stars Target 650 Thread Count Sheet Set Rated 3.38 out of 5 stars Target 2 Pack 250 Thread Count European Pillowcases Rated 4.2 out of 5 stars Target 250 Thread Count Fitted Sheet Rated 4.47 out of 5 stars Target 2 Pack 250 Thread Count Standard Pillowcases Rated 4.83 out of 5 stars 500 Thread Count Sheet Set Rated 4.43 out of 5 stars Target 250 Thread Count Valance