It is said that Australia is the lucky country and in a way it’s true but that saying is quickly turning sour in the mouths of many Australians. It has been predicted that the rental prices will increase 50% over the next 4 years… 50%! For families already under pressure paying high rents this is a disastrous prediction, how on earth will they cope? They will find themselves squeezing into houses with other families or working two jobs just to make ends meet. The alternative of course is homelessness. I always assumed that homeless people were there by choice, choosing not to work or simply choosing to drop out of society. How wrong I was, now I see how a full time income does not ensure your families security and it is very possible to be a hard working individual yet still end up in the streets or living out of a car. A full time working individual should be fine but if you are a family with a single income you may as well kiss your arse goodbye. I don’t know what the government’s answer to this situation is going to be but it is very clear to me that todays Australia welcomes homelessness!

Lately we have been hearing a lot about mortgage stress and I think It’s about time we are starting to hear about rental stress as well.  By definition mortgage stress is when a family spends 30% or more of their household income on their mortgage.   Same goes for rental stress and that magic percentage being 30% of your income.  We pay  30% of our income on rent and at one stage it was 39%, then add in food costs, bills, school fees etc etc you are not left with anything.  No wonder so many people are trying to get into government housing, last I heard it was a nine year waiting list and if you you truly have NO roof over your head it’s a two year waiting list.  What are those families meant to do for two years?  Well the department of housing have a great idea…. they are handing out tents!  No joke… tents.  Families with young children are forced to live in tents in and around the city.  I think this is a little more than stress, I’d say it’s a full blown crisis.  After hearing about that I’m counting my blessings and I can now honestly say I’m thankful for this tiny house I rent.  I have a toilet, shower, fridge, T.V and a warm bed.  I can’t imagine what those families are thinking when they are handed a tent and hear “come back in two years.”

I have discovered that when you live in a house that is more like a shoe box :

1. In the dead of night you can put the hallway light on and see everything in the fridge….even when your fridge light is broken.

2. Vacuuming the floor only takes 8 minutes tops….that includes emptying the bag.

3.  The children have no hiding places when they are in trouble…..unless you count the toilet.

4. Real estate inspections take 2 minutes…. shame about the 5 hours you sit around waiting for them.

5. A main bedroom can double as an office and a bedroom… who said never mix business and pleasure?

Yep, if you look hard enough there are always positives in any situation.

My husband was reading a book the other day and then all of a sudden the book was flying across the room and a few choice words flew out of his mouth.  Once I saw the book he was reading I understood his frustration.  You see, we are trapped in the renting cycle.  We don’t earn enough to save for a home loan deposit and even if we had the deposit we could not service a loan.  So Luke has been reading book after book on how to get out of this situation and how to get ahead in the real estate market.  However ALL these books assume you have spare income and simply offer budgeting tips or equity jumping ideas.  What we want to know is HOW to start when you don’t even qualify for a loan.  There simply doesn’t seem to be a way.  We have fallen into a category of ignored and invisible people.   There is no start for people who are just making ends meet, we are pushed aside and never mentioned.  We earn too much for any government assistance but not enough to get a loan even for a unit.  The class divisions are widening and more and more people are falling into this void. I have no idea how the government is going to fix this problem, sweeping it under the rug is my guess.