Where does Australia’s rental crisis leave these “homeless“ international students?

Story topic and angle

International students have to sleep in the living room, on the balcony, or in a hotel after they arrive in Australia because they cannot find suitable accommodation.

After COVID-19, Australia began to open its borders, and China’s Ministry of Education issued a document no longer recognizing qualification certificates obtained through online learning. Therefore, many international students have to return to Australia to take offline classes, which leads to increased demand for Australian houses. According to CoreLogic figures, Australia’s rental vacancy rate fell to 1.3% in January. There is a shortage of houses for rent, and the rental market prices are getting higher and higher. It is a serious public issue for students studying in Australia who face a crisis of homelessness in foreign countries. Australian schools and the government need to pay attention to this problem and take measures to help them.

Hence, I plan to write a feature story about those international students in Australia who have not found suitable accommodation and the problems they face, including：

1. Because of the liberalization of the border and the Chinese Ministry of Education’s no longer recognizing online degrees, the surge in Australian international students has led to a shortage of rental housing, so many Australian international students have no suitable accommodation (as background).
2. Data on how many international students return to Australia, the 2023 vacancy ratio of rentable housing in Australia, and survey data on how many international students cannot find suitable places.
3. Interviews with international students who could not find a place to live, telling about their plight and problems.
4. Interview with a teacher at the University of Sydney, asking her opinion on the problems faced by these “homeless” students.
5. Suggestions that both the government and the school can give some help to these international students, such as arranging some residences for them at the school.

 

Publication and Audience

I hope the publisher of this news is ABC News because it is the largest publication in Australia and provides news content for audiences of different ages in Australia. This publication also covers social and public issues, and this feature story is about current social issues in Australia and is suitable for publication in this publication.

My target audience is all international students in Australia who cannot find suitable accommodation and all adults. Through this news, international students will know that someone is speaking out for their plight, and it will also let Australian adults understand the current social problems and give help to these “homeless” international students.

 

Potential Sources/Interviewees

• I plan to use some data websites, such as CoreLogic, to search for some data on the vacancy rate of rental properties in Australia, and then use some data provided by news websites, such as ABC News, and Sydney Morning Herald.
• I will also interview international students who have difficulty finding housing in Australia.
• I will try to interview the teachers at the University of Sydney to ask if they have any suggestions for these students who are “homeless”.

 

Multimedia, hypertext and interactivity

Hyperlinks are used to supplement news information

I will use some pictures to illustrate the news content.

I will add Twitter posts about the rental crisis in Australia in the news.

At the end of the news, I provide my contact information, which can receive feedback from readers and improve news interactivity.