The Perth couple moving east to escape WA’s crushing rents
Megan Neal and Ben Morey were excited to move into their East Victoria Park duplex in 2022.
The house was a little run-down, but it was in a great location, and the $400-per-week rent was manageable for such a centrally located place.
Nearly four years later, they’re paying $310 more per week, and the maintenance issues have grown into big...
The strongest version of this narrative highlights the human cost of Western Australia’s rental crisis, where skyrocketing rents and poor housing conditions force vulnerable tenants into impossible choices. The couple’s story—backed by survey data and market trends—paints a compelling picture of systemic failure, where wages lag far behind housing costs, and tenants face eviction despite advocating for basic habitability. The Greens’ call for rent caps and eviction bans aligns with the lived exp...