Hidden victims of housing crisis

Animal shelters around Melbourne and rural Victoria are overwhelmed with pets that are being surrendered due to the current housing crisis.

Rent increases of up to 40% have left many renters being forced to downsize, or move to homes where they can no longer afford to keep their pets. “Rents are raising four times faster than wages and show no signs of slowing down” says Gabrielle de Vietri, Greens MP.

Adoptions Coordinator at the Australian Animal Protection Society Tahlia Summer has seen significant increase in the number of animals being surrendered, with up to 50 surrender requests a day. Reasons stated by the public being mostly financial and housing inaccessibility. Lack of yard space, or inability to afford especially larger breed dogs has been one of the reasons she has seen dogs being put back into the shelter.

Summer says “The rural Victorian pounds are overflowing with hundreds of animals on euthanasia lists” as their capacity reaches its limit. Dogs such as Rottweilers, Staffies, Shepherds, and Bully breeds are amongst some of the larger dogs that are no longer suitable for their housing situation. This is due to a lack of space or owners not being able to be at home with the animals enough due to working more hours to cover the rising cost of living. Many volunteer foster carers have had to also shut their doors to the shelters as they are also no longer able to house the animals due to financial and housing instability.