Vinnies SA calls for landlords to 'do right thing' and cut rents after consecutive rates cuts

One of South Australia’s leading charities is calling for landlords to help ease housing stress across South Australia by sharing the benefits of two consecutive rate cuts with their tenants.

The call, from Vinnies CEO Evelyn O’Loughlin, comes as mortgage stress falls while rental stress remains at record levels. 

The Reserve Bank of Australia cut of 0.25 of a percentage point, after its May meeting, took the cash rate below 4 per cent for the first time in two years to 3.85%. 

The two cuts follow data from the PropTrack Rental Affordability Index 2025 (published in March) which indicated that rental stress  is at its worst level almost two decades, and possibly the worst in the state’s history.

The PropTrack report revealed a median income-earning South Australian could afford just one quarter of all advertised rents without putting themselves in financial trouble.

After the ‘big four’ banks confirmed they would pass on the cut, Ms O’Loughlin said it was the compassionate, ethical and practical thing for landlords and letting agents to pass on some of their savings to tenants.

“It’s the compassionate thing because renters are really hurting and they also need help, and it’s the ethical thing because one of the main reasons given for raising rents was that higher rates were pushing up mortgage costs,” said Ms O’Loughlin. 

“It’s also the practical thing because helping to reduce the cost of living crisis for all South Australians benefits everyone in the economy.”

 Ms O’Loughlin recognised that some landlords were already working hard to recognise the challenges faced by their tenants.

She said she hoped others would join them and not indulge in what could be perceived as price gouging that would keep rental prices at unaffordable levels and in some cases force even more people into homelessness.

“We’ve been seeing increased demand for our services across the state and, in fact, I was just looking at 2023/24 data for Onkparinga this week that supports this. 

“That data, from the Homelessness to Home data system, showed housing affordability as a proportion of total requests for assistance in Onkaparinga almost tripled from 4.8% in 2021/22 to 11.4% in 2023-24. 

“Meanwhile, presentations for rough sleeping in Onkaparinga surged by more than a third from 162 people in 2021/22 to 260 people in 2023/24.

“I don’t believe most South Australians would find that acceptable and we hope that people will choose to do something about it and share their rate cut savings with their tenants.” 

 

For more information or an interview please contact:

Grant Smyth, Communications and Media Manager, Vinnies SA

Phone: (08) 8112 8730

Email: gsmyth@svdpsa.org.au

About the St Vincent de Paul Society

The St Vincent de Paul Society has been an integral part of the South Australian community since 1884. Providing assistance throughout metropolitan and regional SA, Vinnies is committed to assisting people experiencing disadvantage with a hand up through a focus on food, clothing and shelter.

Services include:

• Vinnies Assistance Visit program which supports approximately 60,000 South Australians each year with food, clothing, furniture and emergency financial assistance.
• Vinnies Men’s Crisis Centre, accommodating 500 men each year
• Vinnies Women’s Crisis Centre, accommodating on average more than 1,000 women and children and 150 pets each year
• Vinnies Refugee & Asylum Seeker Service, supporting 3,500 refugees and asylum seekers
• Fred’s Van meal service – serving 40,000 meals across 10 locations in SA

Along with practical support, Vinnies offers a compassionate, non-judgmental approach to supporting people in need, and we advocate on behalf of those who do not have a voice on issues such as the need for more affordable housing; the inadequacy of social security payments; refugee and asylum seeker policy and more.