HOUSING CRISIS LEADS TO A TENTS SITUATION
TRACY and Allen Short have spent more than two months calling tents pitched in a reserve home.
The couple, from South Australia, say the state of the rental market has made it virtually impossible to find a rental in the area, in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide. It comes as advocates say thousands of homes need to be built immediately to address “years of inaction”.
Since March 16, Mr and Mrs Short have lived in Haythorpe Reserve on the banks of the Murray, using an
Esky to store perishable items and watching rats run over their tent to pass time. The couple, aged 59 and 60, were given just over 60 days to find a new house after the owners of their former rental in Meningie sold the property at the end of 2021.
“Some agents actually said to us, there’s not much point applying for them, because there’s like 50 or 60 people before us that have actually gone for them,” Ms Short said.
Shelter SA’S executive director Dr Alice Clark called for “quick building initiatives … it’s time we seriously looked into doing something like that”.