House prices in capital cities are forecast to stay severely unaffordable for at least a decade, according to a study by the University of Canberra and AMP that found that median house prices jumped nearly 150 per cent between 2001 and 2011.
Sydney remains the most expensive place to buy a house while Hobart is the cheapest.
Ben Phillips from the University of Canberra is the lead author of the report by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) and AMP, which looked at housing affordability from 2001 to 2011.
Mr Phillips says housing in Australia has become severely unaffordable and will remain so for at least the next 10 years.
One of the most surprising figures to come out of the report was how unaffordable houses in places such as Newcastle and Wollongong were.
"It's now the case that these cities are actually just as unaffordable as somewhere like Sydney or Melbourne and the reason for this is because whilst their house prices are a little bit lower, their incomes are significantly lower than a city like Sydney," Mr Phillips said.
"I guess the distinction in this report though is we've sort of split it up into the housing haves and the housing have-nots, and the affordability report looks very much at those trying to get into the market as opposed to those who are already in the market," he said.
Mission Australia’s Soft Landing Mattress Recycling – a groundbreaking approach to tackling a significant environmental problem while also providing training and employment opportunities to long-term unemployed people in the Illawarra – was officially launched yesterday at its headquarters in Bellambi.
Funded by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations’ Jobs Fund, Soft Landing takes discarded mattresses destined for landfill and recycles them – an operation that currently provides jobs for eight trainees and four casual staff.
Special guest at the event was Sharon Bird, Federal MP for Cunningham.
Soft Landing’s manager, Lyn Watkins, said the initiative was a first for the area and it had big plans for the future.
“All the beds delivered to us get pulled down and broken into four key areas. The springs go to scrap metal recyclers, the foam is used as carpet underlay, the pulp fibre is used by a sporting goods manufacturer for punching bags and the timber frames are used for timber mulch or donated to a local men’s shed program where they are turned into kids toys,” Ms Watkins said.
“Over the next three years our plan is for Soft Landing to divert more than 78,000 mattresses from landfill – that’s 2,739 semi trailer loads!
“But Soft Landing is not just about sustainability. Over the same period we aim to create 20 ‘green’ jobs for the Illawarra. This includes 14 traineeships for Aboriginal and long-term unemployed job seekers.”
“Australia – and our own region – faces unprecedented environmental challenges that demand our urgent action. Australia sends 1.25 million mattresses to landfill each year. Each individual mattress consists of 12.5kgs of steel, 2kgs of wood and 1.5kgs of foam.
“We also have some serious issues in the Illawarra with unemployment. Despite the overall health of Australia’s economy, Illawarra’s unemployment rate is 6.6 per cent while the unemployment rate for 15-19 year olds looking for full-time work is 22 per cent.
“So Soft Landing is a unique approach to both these issues. We not only want to make a difference locally to our environment, we also want to help transform the lives of people who need our help,” said Ms Watkins.
In the year it has been operating, Mission Australia’s Soft Landing mattress recycling program has provided 15 jobs for people in the Illawarra region of New South Wales.
Among them is Graeme, who works full-time at the Soft Landing warehouse in Bellambi. He uses pliers and an angle-grinder to strip old mattresses down to their raw materials, which are then put to good use rather than going into landfill.
For Graeme, the job is not just about earning a wage and helping the environment – it represents a second chance at life after many years of struggling with a drinking problem, unemployment and isolation.
“Twenty years ago I was injured in an underground mining accident and broke several bones in my back,” he said. “My marriage broke up and I was left to raise two kids. Then I was caring for my dad, who had bowel cancer. When he passed away I hit the grog badly – I was drinking four litres of wine a day.”
“Due to the drinking, the way I was feeling about myself, I wouldn’t even collect my mail unless I was drunk. I was drinking myself to death…
“To improve my life I did a warehousing course at the Mission Australia warehouse and haven’t looked back since.”
In 2009, Graeme was offered a casual position within the mattress recycling project pilot, which tested the viability of the business model. This year he was offered a full-time traineeship in waste management at Soft Landing, and has been passing his knowledge onto his new colleagues.
The bed springs he removes from the mattresses go to scrap-metal recyclers. The foam is used as carpet underlay. The pulp fibre is used by a sporting goods manufacturer for punching bags, and the timber frames are used for timber mulch or donated to a men’s shed program where they are turned into toys. The coconut husk used in some mattresses is currently being tested as weed matting.
“There’s much more to this than just cutting mattresses up,” Graeme said. “It’s good to help people in the community who are down on their luck. It keeps you connected with different types of people and you realise that people aren’t all bad. You’re happy to come into work every day.
“I’ve got my life back,” he added. “Life is improving day by day. I’ll be here until retirement – if they can put up with me!”
This week, with the help of the Soft Landing team, Graeme regained his car licence. “I have dreamed about this day for years. I am very grateful. This is a big deal for me.”
The participants working at Soft Landing were selected as they had multiple barriers preventing them from entering the labour market. Ninety per cent of the trainees are Indigenous, three have disabilities and all are long-term unemployed. The program will also offer 20 work experience positions for job seekers looking to gain skills in asset maintenance or waste management.
Over three years, the Soft Landing program will divert 78,260 mattresses – or 2,739 semi-trailer loads – from landfill. It is one of several social enterprises being housed in the new Mission Australia Bellambi warehouse.
