Rental crisis forces family of five to live in their car
A Queensland family has been forced to live in their car as they struggle to secure a place to live amid the ongoing rental property crisis, per 9News.
Shikera Maher of Ipswich, a mother of five, said she had applied for over 300 properties since her lease ended in July last year, and has been rejected by every single one.
Since July, she and her family have been living in their car and travelling from park to park.
They use a friend’s home to shower and sink hundreds of dollars into fuel each week to run the air conditioning overnight as they try to stay cool.
“The two 15-year-olds and 13-year-old, the 18-year-old, sleep in the passenger side and I sleep in the driver’s side,” Ms Maher said.
“I just want a house.
“I just want my kids to have stability back.”
Ms Maher said she hadn’t been blacklisted as a tenant and can afford to pay rent, and the only thing preventing her from finding a place to stay has been the low availability of properties.
“There are a few houses where we have even offered more rent,” she said.
“I’ve even written to (Queensland Premier) Annastacia [Palaszczuk] and said, like, do something.”
Tannayah, Ms Maher’s daughter, said she “would die” for a house to call home.
“Just any house really,” she said.
In Ipswich, the rental vacancy rate is currently sitting at just 0.9 percent, and low rental availability has become a particularly pressing issue in the state’s south-east following the recent floods.
Ipswich property manager Jaimee Julian said the rental crisis was “out of control” and has resulted in people being willing to pay more just to secure a home.
“Insurance companies are willing to pay the six-month rent for tenants,” she said.
Stories like Ms Maher’s come after Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the best solution for renters was to “help them buy a house” following the Federal Budget reveal.
Meanwhile, Ms Maher’s application for social housing has been approved, though she continues to search for a rental property while she remains on the waitlist.
Ms Maher warned others that becoming homeless was more of a real threat than many realised, admitting that she never expected she would become homeless.
“Don’t ever say that (it won’t happen) because the housing in Queensland at the moment is shocking.”
Image: Nine