Due to rising rent and a lack of housing, families who are experiencing homelessness have resorted to breaking into vacation homes to take baths and catch up on sleep.
On June 20, according to recent CCTV footage, a young family broke into an Airbnb apartment nearby Perth, with the mother guiding a boy and a toddler inside.
Property manager at Holiday Homes Made Easy, Davinia Gillard, told Daily Mail Australia that she believed the main reason for the break-in was simply to have “place to stay.”
Ms. Gillard said: “I think it’s simply incredibly awful to see that there was a tiny child, a baby or toddler, out at midnight strolling into a house to get five hours sleep and then departing.”
Particularly given the recent weather we have experienced. It’s been quite rainy.
According to Ms. Gillard, she discovered the house had been abandoned with a half-filled sink tub that had purportedly been used as a children’s bath and a washing machine that was beeping with a child’s shirt still inside.
Police had informed Ms. Gillard that the group was targeting vacation homes in a systematic manner because there had been three recent break-ins of a similar nature.
Later, more guys joined the gang; they entered the house during the night and took four cups, two lamps, four pillows, a doona, a bathroom towel, tea, coffee, and sugar.
She told 7News that “these are not your typical thieves out for a fast smash-and-grab.”
In her ten years working in the short-stay market, Ms. Gillard claimed there had been an increase in persons breaking into vacation homes.
In one incident that happened two weeks ago, someone broke a window to enter a home where they reportedly intended to spend just one night and take a shower.
She added, “We also had another case where someone showed up to the property just between two reservations and there was all kinds of clothes bits and pieces and it appeared like someone was going to be setting up for the night.”
She speculated that individuals would use platforms like Airbnb to target abandoned homes.
There is no other way for them to know, so I assume they have. She answered, “I don’t have signs up on the houses.
“For them to know it’s vacant, they must be researching it online and seeing if it’s occupied or not,” said the author.
According to Ms. Gillard, Perth in particular is exhibiting an upsurge in homelessness that is clearly seen throughout WA.
I was recently walking around the streets when I noticed how many individuals were camped out in alleys and sleeping bags, she added.
Walking across the city is becoming uncomfortable at this point.
With vacancy rates under 1% in six of the country’s eight big cities, Australia is experiencing a serious housing affordability issue.
According to a CoreLogic analysis, vacancy rates were below 1% in six out of eight capital cities, and rental listings were down about one-third from pre-pandemic levels across the country’s capital cities.