Father puts his kids in care and lives in a car because of Australia’s deepening housing and cost of living crises
Father is placing his children under supervision and living in a car due to the increasing housing crisis and cost of living in Australia
A desperate father has been forced to put his children in care homes and live in his car because of the rising cost of living in the country.
Shane, from South Australia, has been living with his wife in a broken down car in North Adelaide since late last year.
He made the painful decision to transfer custody of his children to the state as he tries to get back on his feet, hoping it will give them a better start in life.
“Our kids are in care because we can’t afford to buy the house we need for our four kids to do the things they need to do,” an emotional Shane shared. 7News.
“They’re just reaching the age where everything costs money[and]kids need money.”
Shane and the broken down car he lives in with his wife in North Adelaide
Every day is a struggle for survival for Shane and his wife.
In the morning they travel to the city where they are offered free food by some local businesses and in the evening they scour local malls for discounted meals.
Shane has been unable to get help with housing due to the unprecedented demand in South Australia.
‘I’ve been in the industry for a long time and I’ve never seen it this bad,’ says Nicole Dwyer, CEO of employment agency Workskil Australia.
‘Which housing provider you speak to, the demand for services is unprecedented.’
In fact, WorkSkil hands out about 150 swags each month to job seekers who don’t have a place to live.
The charity Mission Australia has claimed that more than 122,000 Australians are homeless every night.
To put that figure into context, if Australia’s homeless population were in one place, it would be the 18th largest city in the country, just behind Darwin in terms of population size.
Escalating basic living costs, such as rent, power and groceries, are now believed to make housing more unaffordable for people on the margins.
Vacancy rates are still about half of what they were pre-Covid.
Last month, the vacancy rate rose slightly to 1.45 percent, with more rental properties coming onto the market, contributing to the modest increase.
But the return of migrants, students and tourists to Australia could lead to a worsening of vacancy rates.
It’s because national rents are estimated to have increased by an average of 27.4 percent since the start of the pandemic — equivalent to nearly $130 per week per average household, according to CoreLogic.