Soco Realty director Ashleigh Goodchild claims bad tenants are partly to blame for homeless crisis in Western Australia
A real estate agent has attracted attention after claiming bad tenants are partly responsible for increasing homelessness.
Ashleigh Goodchild, director of Perth-based firm Soco Realty, made the shock claim as Australia is crippled by a housing crisis.
Long queues have become a common sight at rent inspections, with residents forced into a fierce bidding war as they compete for vacant rooms.
Families are among the growing number of Australians forced to take drastic measures and live in caravans, tents or even their cars.
Mission Australia recently claimed that more than 122,000 Australians are homeless each night and demand for emergency housing services has increased by 26 per cent since 2020.
Potential tenants in Perth share images and videos of long queues to inspect the city’s few vacant properties, while an agent shared ‘the other side’ of the crisis via social media
Ms Goodchild, whose company biography claims she “worked her way from front desk to company property,” said there is another side to the homelessness picture that the media misses.
“I know no one deserves homelessness, I understand that, but there’s a big fact that the media is missing that contributes to these people becoming homeless,” she said in a TikTok video.
And it’s that they’ve done the wrong thing by landlords.
‘The group of tenants who are currently applying for a home on the housing market in Perth is far below par.
“We are talking about tenants who have done the wrong thing. They’ve destroyed property, they lie on their application, they don’t pay rent and these are the people who are at greater risk of becoming homeless.”
Ms Goodchild posted the clip to TikTok after reading an article about homelessness.
“This got me excited this morning,” the video captioned.
Perth’s rental market is among the tightest in the country, with potential tenants taking to social media to share images and videos of queues of up to 100 people waiting to inspect the city’s few vacant properties.
Last month, Perth’s rental vacancy rate – the percentage of all rental properties that are vacant or unoccupied – was 0.5 percent.
Nationally, the rate is just 1.3 percent. The lower the rate, the more difficult it is to find a home.
Perth cop Ashleigh Goodchild (pictured) sensationally claimed that dishonesty and messiness are a major reason why some people are at risk of becoming homeless
A mother of five recently found herself in the spotlight after revealing she was forced to live in a tent with her family.
Ms. Goodchild’s opinions received a mixed response, although many people who work in the real estate industry agreed with her.
‘OMG this! I work as a rental agent and this is exactly what I do day in and day out!’ said one.
However, two mothers disagreed and strongly disagreed with Ms Goodchild’s claims that bad tenants were partly to blame.
“You’re wrong,” said a mother of six.
“There are so many two-income families, with an A+ rent record[that]can’t get a home.”
Another Queensland woman, who is currently looking for a home, joined the debate.
‘Sorry, but I’ve always paid the rent on time, I’ve never destroyed a house, but still good references. I have a dog and three adults and three children and we are still missing something,” she said.
Mrs Goodchild replied that if the woman was in Perth and could produce a rental book ‘and a copy of your latest inspection report’ she would have found a property for her.
Last week, Ms Goodchild drew praise for posting her own tearful response after evicting a woman whose home had been reclaimed by its owner.
“That was one of the hardest things I think I’ve ever had to do,” she said.
“I left her knowing I had done the right thing by her, emotional as best I could,” Ms Goodchild added, describing the situation as a “little speed bump” in the tenant’s life.
A mother of five recently found herself in the spotlight after revealing she was forced to live in a tent with her family