![Virginia Gawler and Wagga councillor Jenny McKinnon. Picture by Les Smith Virginia Gawler and Wagga councillor Jenny McKinnon. Picture by Les Smith](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/yKyzS5MkFCYtCA2z8EAGJL/cd594404-459c-47ac-9169-37b1c26b51c9.jpg/r0_300_4353_2747_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Virgina Gawler isn't the most obvious renters advocate in Wagga.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
But after watching the local situation deteriorate for years, she's decided it's time to do something about it.
"It's not just a housing crisis - it's a social crisis," she said.
"All the welfare agencies are saying the same thing. Everyone's struggling to find affordable accommodation. Rents are rising rapidly, interest rates are going up, and so is the cost of living - it's a perfect storm.
"Meanwhile, some people have multiple investment properties, some of which are lying empty."
According to the latest statistics from Homelessness Australia, at least 750,000 Australians were living in housing stress and an estimated 640,000 families were in desperate need of secure housing on census night, 2021.
The number for Wagga was 257 people did not have secure and stable housing, and a further 174 were living in other forms of marginal housing in caravans, overcrowded or improvised dwellings.
The experience of local frontline workers suggests this number has increased significantly.
The right to housing and adequate shelter is recognised in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a fundamental human right to enable people to live with dignity and security.
National Days of Action for housing justice events are being organised around Australia to coincide with International Human Rights Day this weekend.
Ms Gawler is organising a rally at 12.45pm on Tuesday, December 12, near the Visitor Information Centre on Tarcutta Street.
"It's being framed around baby boomers against millennials, and that's too simplistic," she said.
"Not all baby boomers have been able to buy their own homes, and the impact is much greater on older women ... there's a big economic gender aspect to this, and that needs to be addressed.
"I'm not expecting anything huge - it's part of drawing attention to the issue, and forming a broader coalition, which is what we have to do."
A recent Proptrack report showed that over a 10-year period, renters pay more for housing than owners.
This is worsened in rural, regional, and remote communities.
In Sydney, an average rental costs 32 per cent of the average income. In regional Australia, it's 35.5 per cent.
Director of Per Capita's Centre for Equitable Housing Matthew Lloyd-Cape said geography and parentage playing an increasing role in people's ability to afford to buy.
He said this entrenches existing inequalities in the housing market.
"We've basically shifted from incomes buying houses to existing wealth buying houses. We need to re-balance that side of things as much as the price to income ratio," he said.
"Next financial year, we're looking at spending 18 billion dollars in negative gearing and capital gains tax discounting for investors, and 1.6 billion on social housing and homelessness services.
"We need stop the ways in which the wealthy are able to use tax breaks to cheapen the price of buying houses, and tip the scale back in favour of people who are just starting out in life."
The trials of renting are more than a financial burden.
University of Adelaide shows renting under standard conditions in Australia ages people faster - the equivalent of being a former smoker.
They found it was likely insecurity, and financial stress driving the ageing process
Mr Lloyd-Cape said this showed there was a need for serious rental reform in Australia.
"This idea that renting is more dangerous to your health than smoking is partly because people are spending so much longer in the rental market," he said.
"For someone on a fixed income, you can see how that stress would soon accumulate into very poor health - particularly if you don't see any exit.
"Private renters are squeezed from two sides - they can't exit at the top of the market because they can't afford a deposit, and they can't exit at the bottom towards social renting that would give them a fixed rental amount."