Surprised to see today one of Canning’s lovely river suburbs – Shelley – declared the second-worst rental suburb in Australia!

At bottom:  Two mayoral candidates express concern about infill.

As reported today in Business News*:

The riverside suburb of Shelley has been given the ignominious title of the second worst suburb for rental problems in Australia….research from rental review website Don’t Rent Me…bad reviews from Shelley made up 9% of bad reviews in WA….

Apparently Shelley is only second in Australia to Southport, Queensland in this category (12% of bad reviews).

As for the rest of WA’s top 5 worst rental suburbs?  It’s East Perth, Quinn’s Rock, West Perth and Ocean Reef.

But wait! I hear you say – we’re not Beaconsfield, Fremantle (shocking public housing problems)!

Well, this website is different:  it’s about Renters outing bad Landlords – including the addresses of their properties, not Landlords putting bad Renters on a watch list to alert other realtors not to rent to them!

Established in 2012, Don’t Rent Me seems to be gaining traction – watch the video from A Current Affair recently:

How angry tenants are fighting back against cruel landlords.  Angry families are using a new website to name and shame them about properties that aren’t fit to live in.

Its interesting this site has made the jump from current affair programs to business outlets; not a good look for Shelley!

It’s a sure bet the City of Canning will get more and more renters as time goes on, for the following reasons:

• housing infill target set for Canning is SECOND HIGHEST in the state (see table below)
• whilst under administration plans have been drawn up to flock 1000’s of homes in the two major regeneration sites (Canning City Centre, Bentley Regeneration project).  It is likely many will be bought by investors
• Canning’s proximity to Curtin University (renter “types” for areas like Bentley/St James go beyond students, FIFOs/457 Visa holders to people who will never own a home)
• affordable housing doesn’t really exist – most affordable product is achieved only through State and Federal Govt intervention, limiting numbers, and isn’t a long-term solution:
  (1) the Rudd Govt’s National Rental Affordability Scheme (intended to be a major component of the Dept of Housing’s Strategic Project’s Bentley Regen affordability offerings) was ceased by the Abbott Govt after concerns about abuse of the scheme and low take-up numbers, and
  (2) cheaper mortgage product brought to reality by the Barnett Govt vanishes at the point of re-sale, when the owner can sell it for full market value.
  No affordable housing product made available for sale is returned to the affordability pool, in other words. 

Two Mayoral candidates for Canning have been expressing concerns about infill recently, being Ms Margaret Hall (at the Council Meeting of 20 August 2015) and Mr Lindsay Holland, also at same meeting and as part of his election campaign.

*Extracted from “Shelley the second worst suburb for renters” Business News. 7 September 2015.  Accessed online 7 Sept 2015. https://www.businessnews.com.au/