This report investigates racism in Victoria’s rental housing system and how it affects the health and wellbeing of renters from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Drawing on an online survey of 144 renters and five focus groups with 37 participants, the study documents racism at every stage of the rental journey: searching, applying, living in and exiting a tenancy. 

The report calls for strengthening the bicultural housing support workforce, embedding cultural safety and anti-racism training across the sector, improving and simplifying reporting pathways, increasing social housing investment, and co-producing an Antiracism Housing Framework to guide policy and practice reform.

Key findings

• Experiences include being denied housing or steered away from certain areas, overcharging and rent bidding, intrusive and culturally unsafe inspections, poor-quality and unsafe housing, and neighbour harassment.
• Most respondents viewed discrimination as a major problem in the rental sector, with 69% reporting direct experiences of rental racism and 85% reporting direct or vicarious exposure. 
• Men, people born in Africa, those in financial stress, and renters who had transitioned into social housing reported the highest levels of racism. 
• These experiences triggered anger, powerlessness, shame and avoidance behaviours and were significantly associated with self-reported declines in health and wellbeing.