In the huge tent city that has sprung up amid Australia’s housing crisis – and many of them are stuck there despite holding full-time jobs: ‘A new class of homeless people’
- The rental crisis hits a holiday resort hard
- Tent town has appeared in Moruya on the south coast of NSW
A tented campsite in an Australian holiday destination is not what it first appears – the residents are not holidaymakers but locals who cannot find houses to rent.
More than 50 families have moved to the tent town in Moruya, an idyllic beach town on the NSW south coast, with such demand from locals that the holiday park is no longer open to tourists.
The campsite usually has a limit on how long people can stay there – less than two months – but the council is now waiving this as they have nowhere else to go.
“I could never have imagined that a municipality could kick people out of an area just because it is a tourist area,” said Mayor Mathew Hatcher of Eurobodalla Shire. 9News.
Cassie, a mother of two young boys, worries she could be the tent city’s next permanent resident after her rent became too expensive in July 2022.
More than 50 families live permanently in the tent city (pictured) in Moruya on NSW’s south coast as the town struggles with a shortage of affordable accommodation
Cassie said she wants somewhere where her two young boys can grow up healthy, but no accommodation is available despite her job
Cassie has been living in crisis accommodations and hotels for over six months – at times when she has to choose between paying for a temporary roof over their heads or food.
“I just want a home for these guys. I just want my boys to grow up happy and healthy and know they have somewhere to sleep every night,” she said.
Lachlan Fuzzard of nonprofit organization The Family Place at Moruya said it is not simply a fact that there is no work in the area.
“We’re seeing a new class of homeless people called the working poor who have full-time jobs but just can’t find affordable long-term rent in their area,” he said.
There are several factors leading to the housing crisis in the city.
The Black Summer wildfires that swept through the area in 2019 destroyed 501 homes, but only 122 have been replaced. The problem was exacerbated by problems with the supply of building materials.
In addition, sea changers who left the cities during Covid have snapped up many of the free properties in the area.
What’s left is owned by investors who keep them as strictly short-term vacationers or temps.
Kelly, who lives in a moldy, mouse-infested caravan in the tent city, said she wants to give her 17-year-old daughter a better life, but there simply isn’t affordable accommodation nearby.
Local charity Anglicare is helping by delivering care packages, but Mayor Hatcher said the problem can only be solved by state politicians taking notice.
He wants the issue made a priority before NSW residents go to the polls this weekend.
Cassie said she fears she will have no choice but to become a permanent resident of the tent city