Sydney’s rental market is dire, and the current average rent for a house has already hit $650 a week, while even just a unit costs $575 on average.
The city’s prices are the highest of any state capital in the country.
With the prices and the never-ending lines at rental inspections, some renters face the prospect of homelessness for the first time, with an estimated 7,000 people losing their homes across NSW.
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How did this happen? And what can be done to help them? Will the housing crisis finally be resolved with Chris Minns and the Labor party “back and ready to govern”?
In today’s episode of THIS ARVO IN SYDNEY, host Sacha Barbour Gatt spoke with LiSTNR news producer Madeline Palmer about her interview with a 38-year-old single mum Kylie.
Kylie used to be a working mum living in Queensland. However, after experiencing domestic violence from her ex-partner, the father of her five-year-old son, Kylie and her son were forced to relocate to Sydney.
I remember Googling what to do when homeless, how to find a home. And it was tough. I had no clue,”
Kylie said.
Kylie struggled to secure a home despite lining up in massive queues for house inspections and submitting many applications.
According to recent data, Sydney’s rental vacancy rate is at its lowest level since 2011, now sitting at 1.4 per cent.
Kylie said she had submitted 44 rental applications in less than six months and had absolutely no luck.
So eventually, she had no choice but to reach out to a homelessness service in her local area, which put her up for some temporary accommodation,”
Palmer told Barbour Gatt.
Kylie never thought she would struggle to provide a roof for her son one day.
It would have been at the point of either staying in an environment, which wasn’t positive or sleeping in the car or trying to do something else,”
she said.
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