RISING rents are out of control in the South West according to WA Renters Alliance co-ordinator Lea Keenan.
"We have all heard about mortgage stress, however renters' stress has received comparatively little mention," Ms Keenan said.
Bridgetown renter Louise Fleay said she relocated two years ago from Perth for the promise of less financial pressures in terms of cost of living including "cheaper and fairer rents".
She was paying $350 in rent in Perth and two years ago was paying $220 in Bridgetown but this has risen to $270 per week.
"When we put things in context, landlords are hitting us up hard for rent, trying to make as much as possible out of their investment; however it is at the expense of our quality of life," she said.
"It is stressful because there is less income down here, less jobs and proportionately I'm paying just as much if not more of my total income in rent.
"There are not many full-time jobs down here and I have two part-time jobs to make ends meet."Bridgetown should not just be a place to be afforded by well-off retirees; it should be a healthy community for everyone.
"I love Bridgetown, I love the Blackwood, I love the South West and the people are great but they need to know, those who are investors, that we (tenants) are doing it real tough and all the more so with every increase in rent.
"One Bridgetown real estate salesperson who did not want to be named said the problem was endemic and it was underlain by the lack of adequate regulatory protocols in keeping rents to any bona fide guideline - including rent increases.
"The market is the investors' unfortunately and often we in realty are troubled by their asking prices however in the end it is their decision," she said.
Ms Keenan is the founder of the fledgling Renters Alliance and is working on raising rental stress as a major issue with next year's state election pending.
She is writing to all the political parties.
"Half of Western Australians receiving rent assistance remain in financial stress; the rental medians in Perth are now ridiculous and induce poverty and when it comes to towns like Bridgetown and Donnybrook, the median increases are too high and not consistent and may actually be a higher quotient out of total income for renters there than in Perth," she said.
"If home property values are declining in Bridgetown and Donnybrook why are rents going up?
"Most three by one homes in the Blackwood region should only be about $200 and not at $260-320.
"Landlords need to have a good look at their moral compass."
Australians for Affordable Housing (AAH) has asked the federal government to increase Commonwealth Rental Assistance by 30 per cent, which would amount to between $16 and $25 extra a week for households.
Housing stress, which includes mortgage and renters' stress, refers to residents in the lower 30 per cent of income earners who spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing.
"I spend over 40 per cent of my income on rent to live in Bridgetown," Ms Fleay said.
According to AAH the steep rental market has seen the number of WA residents receiving housing-stress rent assistance rise to 43 per cent, however AAH spokeswoman Sarah Toohey said there were thousands of Western Australians struggling to keep a roof over their heads.
Ms Toohey said people who needed a financial break the most were single parents and those on disability support pensions.
"The worst case scenario is that families can no longer make their rent and they will end up homeless," she said. "That really is what happens when people can't afford to keep the roof over their head."
Ms Keenan said WA might be considered a real estate investors boom, however it came on the back of the renters and familial meltdowns.
"It is an unfair market, however we've got to work hard to make people see that they are more than landlords and wealth-creators; you should not do this at the expense of others - be fair."
The South West should not be driving up rents when property values are declining.
"It's not a good look; it's exploitation, sheer greed.
"If we get the rents fair and respect people, then we'll get the house prices right and then the banks can get their act together on interest rates and Consumer Price Index and inflation will come good.
"It's time renters had rights."
"We only have one life, let us make it a good one for everyone, including the poorer among us and those never able to afford to buy but who can only at best rent," Ms Fleay said.
"I want to stay in Bridgetown and not have to move to the Central Desert."