As Sydney’s housing crisis deepens, more families are endangered to be homeless

Background and Angle

The housing market in Australia is in crisis. Rents are rising steadily and there is far too little housing on offer. Sydney is one of the most expensive places to live in and has recently overtaken Canberra as the most expensive state capital in Australia.

People sometimes queue for hours for a flat viewing to be shuffled through the possible flat with hundreds of other people. Combined with the high cost of living, it is becoming difficult for many to make ends meet. This is true for students as well as families. My feature is about the housing market for families and the difficulties that come with finding a place to live.

It will tell the story of a young family who moved to Sydney and struggled a lot to find a place to live. This family stands as an example for the many people who struggle to find housing in Sydney.

Publication and target audience

 The article will be published in the online publication of the Guardian Australia. The Guardian’s audience is open-minded and progressive. Many readers have a university degree, and the majority are between the ages of 25-54, the age at which people have families, and at over 40% this applies to a significant proportion of the readership. Furthermore, over 70% of readers live in urban areas, so they are directly affected by the housing crisis and feel addressed by this issue.

The Guardian’s readership covers the target audience of the feature story, educated families, with kids under 18 who live in urban areas and are part of the economy.

Multimedia, Hypertexts, and Interaction

The feature will include different kinds of media, for example, pictures of the family to give the story a face. Additionally, the story will have video and probably audio content. A video of people waiting in line at a public flat or house showing. Furthermore, the story will have some parts of the interviews included as audio snippets. The story is rounded off by embedded social media posts of people who have experienced something similar.

Sources of information

 The interviews:

• Christoph Scholl, part of the family displayed in the story, mail: chrisscholl@sydneyunihandball.com
• Nicole Gurran, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Sydney, mail: nicole.gurran@sydney.edu.au

Report about the recent housing development:

Core Logic, rental review for quartal one, 2023

Related news articles on that topic such as:

• Recent migrants to Australia fear the impact of country’s biggest ever wave of arrivals – as they reveal their tough world of crammed rental homes and being ripped off by bosses (daily mail)
• Rents are at a record high across Australia, according to a new report (ABC)