The grim reality of Australia’s rental crisis: Mum of seven reveals she pays $450 a week for a house infested with mold and rats to avoid living in her car
- Mother of seven forced to live in mold and rat $450 a week home
- Nearly 60,000 people in NSW are on the social housing waiting list
Australia’s housing crisis continues to gnaw at families who are on long waiting lists and forced to pay high rents for atrocious properties.
Mother-of-seven Herbriella George is one of nearly 60,000 people in NSW who are on a waiting list for social housing, giving her the choice between living in a barely habitable home or in her car.
Ms George says she has seen 60 to 70 properties while on the waiting list for 10 years and applied unsuccessfully to each of them.
So when she saw a dilapidated, mould-covered $450 a week home in south Sydney, she knew no one would apply for the house.
“I had no choice but to live in that or the other option is to live in my car,” Ms George told The Project.
Mum of seven Herbriella George says she’s been forced to live in a house infested with mold and rats or live in her car with her kids as Australia’s housing crisis reaches tipping point
Mrs George (pictured) is one of nearly 60,000 people in NSW on a social housing waiting list and has been on the social housing waiting list for a decade
Ms George said the house has such a mold problem that she has had to throw away belongings and rats which she calls her ‘pets’.
“I had to give up four of my children because I just couldn’t afford them anymore,” said Mrs. Gould.
There are days when I don’t even know what to put on the table.
“I’m devastated that I can’t give my kids the home they deserve.”
Census data shows that there are approximately 144,000 people in need of social housing.
Hal Pawson, of the City Futures Research Center at the University of NSW, said some families have even dropped off the list because they are tired of waiting, while others saw no point in applying for housing due to competition in the market .
Mr Pawson said the inner-city suburbs of Erskineville, Beaconsfield and Zetland are some of the hardest areas to get housing, with wait times of at least 10 years for any home larger than a one-bedroom unit.