As renters continue to battle soaring prices on the Sunshine Coast, local residents are leaning on caravan parks and house-sitting opportunities to get a roof over their heads.
Mooloolaba resident Maria Brown and local business owner Joanne Fleming are two of the astounding number of people in the region who are battling unattainable rental prices.
The women sat down with local businessman Mal Cayley on the Homes for Everyone podcast, sharing their own personal stories about the fight they are facing to avoid living in their cars.
Ms Brown has rented the same property for almost six years and said the increases had left her unable to ‘enjoy life’.
“This year my rent increased another $120 to $560 a week, which has left me with $27 to live,” she said.
“I get a coffee in the mornings and see an occasional movie, that’s it. We’re supposed to be living but this isn’t living.”
A friend has offered Ms Brown a five-month house-sitting opportunity but after that her future is uncertain.
“If I can’t find someone else who would like me to look after their house, I’ll be in my car,” she said.
After 19 years in the rental game with a clean history, Ms Fleming was pushed to spend her savings on a caravan.
By luck of knowing someone who worked at a caravan park, she was able to land temporary accommodation.
“I never saw this for myself – I saw myself owning my own home one day, not a caravan,” she said.
Subscribe to our free daily news feed. Scroll to the bottom of this story and add your name and email. It’s that simple.
Ms Fleming said her young adult children had lost all hope of ever owning their home on the Sunshine Coast.
“It’s not a great vision for young people to look towards,” she said.
Homes for Everyone founder Mr Cayley said he was astounded at the courage and optimism of the two women but it was shameful they were in this position.
“From a federal and state point of view there’s been a huge lack of responsibility, focus, delivery and intent in delivering social housing across Australia,” he said.
Mr Cayley said government targets were to add 3600 new dwellings in our region each year but only 3000 were being delivered, hence the growing undersupply for all kinds of property.
“There’s just not enough housing for all the people here and we’ve got to come up with immediate, alternate short-term solutions while we fix the systemic and structural issues with the supply,” he said.
“We have to build more of everything as fast as we can because we just don’t have enough housing. Supply is the answer.”
Mr Cayley said it was crucial to educate the community around development and investors.
“If we are going to turn this around we need to undo a generation of understanding and belief,” he said.
“When you have a community that says ‘we don’t want further development’ because they think it will rob them of their lifestyle, what actually happens is we stop providing the right kind of development and that’s what leads to a housing crisis.”
The Homes for Everyone initiative is calling for people to fill in the form at homesforeveryone.com.au so that the collective voice of the community can influence real, positive changes to solve the housing crisis.
Listen to the podcast on Spotify, iHeartRadio or visit homesforeveryone.com.au.
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
