After a year of unsuccessfully looking for a rental home, a mother was forced to move into a tent away from her three children.
Corinne Cook and her partner Dale Brown moved into the 10-man tent while her three children are living with relatives as they battled the Gold Coast rental market, which has the lowest availability in the nation.
‘I want my kids home and they want to be home but I can’t have them here and when I do have them here they don’t want to be here because it’s not a homely feeling,’ Ms Cook told Nine News.
She claimed that although she may visit her kids whenever she wants, it’s not the same as living with them.
Since the owner of Ms. Cook’s prior rental home decided to sell in June of last year, Ms. Cook said her family has been seeking for a new home.
As application after application was turned down by potential landlords, the family had been residing at caravan parks and family members’ homes.
The mother of three claimed that because of the sizable crowds who showed up, she felt “overwhelmed” when she went to view new homes that were on the market.
‘Go to have a look at the house and there’s 30 other people there,’ Ms Cook said, adding it was the ‘worst situation’ she’d ever been in.
According to recent data, the Gold Coast has the nation’s least competitive rental market, with vacancy rates as low as 0.4%.
At 0.7%, the state average for Queensland is also low.
Over the next few years, the state anticipates a significant increase in domestic migration from southern states.
Over the following ten years, the population of the Gold Coast alone is anticipated to increase by more over 145,000.
After the Hunter Valley and the Southern Highlands south of Sydney, the city experienced the third-highest growth rate for the twelve months ending in March of this year.