Annual Report 2005-2006 - Waverley Council

Waverley Council
The Waverley Area
Waverley’s proportion of children aged 0-4 (5%) is the same as that in the Eastern suburbs and slightly
lower compared with Sydney SD (6.6%). However, looking at the age of children in families, a higher
proportion of Waverley families has young children aged 0-4 (23.1%) compared to families in Sydney
(20.1%).
In 2001, there were many sole parent families in Waverley, particularly in Bondi Beach (postcode
2026), an area which also had the highest proportion of lone and group households, families on low
incomes and households experiencing rental stress.
High cost of living, housing and rental stress
Along with other Eastern suburbs residents, people in Waverley earn high incomes. However, in 2001,
24% of residents aged 15 years or older were on low incomes, earning less than $300 per week
($15,600 pa.). Of these, 42% were aged 55 years or older. The median family income in 2001 was
$1200-$1499 per week ($62,400-$77,950 pa.). 21.2% of all families had an income of under $799 per
week ($41,600 p.a.). 15% of couple families with children and 56% of single parent families had
incomes of under $999 per week ($52,000 p.a.).
Mortgages and rents are about 30% above Sydney’s, averaging $1,880 per month and $1,530 per
month respectively. With childcare costs up to $105 per day for a nursery place, many families with
dependent children on middle incomes are struggling to meet the cost of living.
Waverley has seen a dramatic decline in boarding houses which cater for individuals on low incomes
including those suffering from mental illness and unable to access secure housing in the private rental
market. The disappearance of this type of housing together with the change-of-use and upgrades of
old, affordable housing stock is pushing certain community groups and individuals out of Waverley’s
housing market.
Households and rental stress
The DoCS Profile compared family incomes and rental payments at postcode level across 10 LGAs in
the South East Region and found that families in Bondi (2026) contained a significant number of
households in rental stress (Note: Rental stress is calculated as the proportion of households in rented
private dwellings whose weekly household income is less than the NSW median weekly household
income and whose weekly rent is more than 30.0% of their weekly household). While Bondi’s rental
stress index was lower compared to the South East Sydney average, Bondi (postcode area 2026)
contained a total of 1,520 households experiencing rental stress, slightly higher compared to Randwick
(postcode 2031, a regional suburb of similar population size) where 1,428 households experienced
rental stress.
Disability
Waverley has always seemed an area with a high number of people with a disability. This has been
reported in previous social plans. The Disability Information and Referral Centre (DIRC) client statistics
indicate an extremely high proportion of inquiries are made by agencies and residents in Waverley
(over 55% of all inquiries) and this needs further investigation. In 2003-04, the great majority of DIRC’s
clients were people with a physical disability (36%), followed by intellectual disability (21%), psychiatric
(5%), multiple disabilities (5%), autism (4%), and acquired brain injury (3%).
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