A Queensland mother-of-three was left devastated after she was turned away from 150 rental properties, forcing her to move across state to live with her mother.
Single mother Zoe Somers was renting a property in Pimpama, a rural town on the Pacific Highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, early last year.
Ms. Somers was forced to move when her rent increased by 30 percent, from $460 to $590 a week.
She explained that the first increase occurred when she and her husband were living together and the couple managed to pay the difference.
The couple then separated and the rent increased again to $680 a week, leaving Somers unable to make the payments while also caring for her two-year-old son and two teenage daughters alone.
Single mother-of-three Zoe Somers (pictured) was forced to move from the Gold Coast after having 150 rental applications rejected.
Ms. Somers applied for about 150 homes between March and December in several suburbs that were a short drive from her daughter’s school, which she attends for her Japanese-language magnet program.
Mrs Somers even considered renting an apartment two hours away in Brisbane and having her daughter take the train to school.
The young mother also faced a critical child care shortage and accepted government assistance after quitting her job to care for her son.
After 10 months of unsuccessful applications, Mrs Somers had no choice but to leave the Gold Coast and move with her mother to Tasmania.
Ms Somers said she was overcome with sadness over the rental ordeal and claimed the housing crisis is “how people end up homeless”.
‘I cried a lot, especially because I didn’t want to renew my lease when I knew my rent was going up and I tried to talk to my landlord…she knew the situation…and she still raised it anyway,’ the lady said somers Nine.
‘Not only is rentals hard to find on the Gold Coast, but so is childcare, and that’s how I became a single mother, not because I wanted to. People’s situations change in the blink of an eye: that’s how people become homeless.’
Ms Somers was forced to move from the Gold Coast (pictured) to Tasmania with her mother.
Ms Somers, who now has a job, is still applying for rentals in Launceston and says the housing crisis is “not much easier” in Tasmania.
“Even for me, when I find a rental place, I don’t know how I’ll do it, because my whole life with kids, I’ve been a two-parent household,” she said.
“It doesn’t seem much easier to get a rental here as a single mother, but at least I have the support of my family.”
The average asking rent in Pimpama has increased by nine per cent in a 12-month period and 52 per cent in five years, according to data from online property site Domain.
Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate fell to 0.7 percent in February from 1.1 percent in January.
According to SQM Research, the total number of rental vacancies across Australia was 32,108 in January.
Sydney and Melbourne’s vacancy rates fell to 1.3 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively, Canberra and Darwin fell to 1.7 per cent and Brisbane and Hobart recorded a 1 per cent vacancy rate.
Meanwhile, vacancy rates were below 1 per cent compared to January in Perth and Adelaide.
In the 30 days to February 14, 2024, asking rents in the capital increased by another 1.4 per cent.
The national vacancy rate fell to 0.7 percent in February from 1.1 percent in January
The national median weekly rent for a home is recorded at $614.54 per week.
Sydney recorded the highest weekly rent for a house at $1,037.08 per week, while Adelaide units offered the best rental affordability of all capital cities at $451.20 per week.
SQM Research CEO Louis Christopher said national rents in almost all regions indicate there is no end to the rental crisis in sight for early 2024.
“Our rental market update reveals a sharp drop in rental vacancy rates across the country,” Christopher said.
‘It is a seasonal increase in demand that we see at the beginning of each year, but it is undoubtedly problematic because the current rental market remains in crisis.
‘Looking ahead, our best-case scenario for renters is for the rate of population growth to slow considerably this year to an increase of around 360,000 people, which would likely mean a stabilization of rents from the June quarter.
The worst case scenario is that the population continues to increase at the current rate.