How far can anyone stretch $13 in a single day?
That is what renters on youth allowance and the Commonwealth rental payment are forced to contemplate every day, according to new analysis from Homelessness Australia.
As her eviction looms, Cerrita Louw says studying and renting has made her life immensely difficult.
"I can't cope with the stress, I'm not sleeping, I'm not eating, I'm having panic attacks almost every night," she says.
The 23-year-old is a full-time student at RMIT and rents with her partner in Glen Eira in Melbourne's south-east after spending a year homeless.
Recently diagnosed with endometriosis and undergoing a laparoscopy, Ms Louw describes living week-to-week as near impossible.
"For 50 per cent of the month I'm just in excruciating pain," she says.
She spends at least 70 per cent of her income on rent, and she is scrambling to find another property before her lease ends in May.
She says youth allowance and Commonwealth rent assistance is "not enough" to keep up with rising costs of basic groceries on top of rent, quipping that a cheap "bread and pasta diet" also isn't possible because of her coeliac disease.
Ms Louw has resorted to rationing her regular medication and putting off visits to the doctor's office as much as possible.
"Every time I have to go to the doctors or go to hospital, I'm just thinking about how much money it's going to cost," she says.
She has also cut back on socialising to save and can barely justify the cost of petrol for a day trip out of Melbourne.
Calls for higher youth payments
A Homelessness Australia study found youth support incomes have increased by 10 per cent over the past two years, while rents have soared by 24 per cent on average for a two-bedroom flat.
CEO Kate Colvin says that leaves $13 a day for all remaining expenses, including food, medicines, energy bills, and transport.
"Young people are making appalling decisions about what they can afford, including whether they can eat three meals a day," she says.
The peak advocacy body for homeless services is calling on the federal government to increase support payments for renters in next month's budget.
"This budget needs to make sure no one's left behind, including young people," Ms Colvin said.
The Australian Council of Social Services has called on the government to increase income support payments for young people to at least $73 a day, nearly double the current rate of $40.
Youth allowance is indexed once a year instead of bi-annually in the case of Jobseeker and parenting support payments.
Last December, young students and apprentices saw a 6.1 per cent rise in their payments, but they will likely have to wait another eight months to see another increase.
Ms Colvin says the federal government must urgently address rental affordability because inaction could trigger a rise in youth homelessness.
"When young people can't control where they are living due to unaffordable rents, we see them ending up in really dangerous situations where they might have to couch surf or sleep rough," she says.
Nearly 40,000 children and young Australians receive homeless services on an annual basis without an adult present, according to the latest figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
"If we want to give the next generation a genuine shot in life, the least we can do is give them the income they need to survive," Ms Colvin says.
The FOMO is real for young renters
Josh Weaver is enjoying his film and television diploma at Swinburne University so much he almost does not want to graduate at the end of the year.
After moving into an apartment by himself after years of living in share houses, he has needed to cut back on common luxuries.
"I've always been generally thrifty and gotten into habits such as walking instead of driving, and not going out when people go out, and buying groceries at cheaper stores," he says.
"But I sometimes regret it because I'm missing out."
The move into a one-bedroom unit seen his savings accrued over the past 18 months "dwindle" in a short amount of time.
The 23-year-old says he wants to focus more on his classes, but he is constantly thrown into a seemingly never-ending cycle of struggling to meet his rent payments.
"I want to centre my life around acting and directing, but I have to focus on scraping by," he says.
