A homeless woman who lost her coffee has warned of the desperate measures some Australians are taking to stay afloat amid the deepening rental crisis.
Lurlene Hunt, 40, from Queensland, was forced to close her Sunshine Coast cafe last June and was then evicted from her rental home on December 1.
She has been homeless ever since and relies on the kindness of her friends to provide her with a place to sleep at night, often lying on their couches.
Her belongings are stored in a shipping container while she continues to look for a place to rent.
Hunt has warned that some people in his situation are resorting to “crazy” measures, such as using Onlyfans to make enough money just to cover costs.
He has received welfare since he closed his business, but discovered that it is not enough to be able to rent the place where he would like to stay.
In a series of misfortunes, Queensland woman Lurlene Hunt (pictured) was forced to close her Sunshine Coast cafe last June and was then evicted from her rental home on December 1.
Lurlene has been homeless ever since and relies on the kindness of her friends to provide her with a place to sleep at night, often sleeping on their couches.
‘Centrelink isn’t that much, where am I going to get a place for $200? There’s no way out,” she said. news.com.au.
He said there is a local trailer park he could move to, but it is known to be a dangerous area.
“That’s my choice as a single woman,” she said.
Moving around regularly is difficult, and although some people have told her she can stay a little longer, she doesn’t want to outstay her welcome.
Hunt even started contacting school friends he hadn’t seen in years via social media, asking if he could sleep on their couch for a few days.
To make the situation even worse, he said he has no family he can move in with.
He had been paying $600 a week, but when he lost his last rental place, properties that had previously rented for that price were now going for $850.
His former home receives $950 a week, he said.
Ms Hunt has searched from Brisbane to Gympie and into outback Queensland, viewing thousands of properties and submitting around 40 applications.
She said one of the smaller venues she saw in person had dozens of people at the same time as her.
The real estate agent told him that on average they receive between 200 and 300 applications for a house.
He said he has “absolutely no hope” of finding a place in the near future and doesn’t know how long he will be homeless.
Hunt said people are doing “crazy things” to pay their rent.
‘I know people who have second and third jobs, OnlyFans and stuff. That’s not something I want to do.’
One of her friends recently told her she had very pretty feet and joked that she could charge $200 for pictures of them on a fetish website.
A long line of people is shown queuing to view a property as the rental crisis worsens.
He fears that the increase in people in his situation will cause an increase in crimes such as gasoline theft and break-ins.
“People are getting desperate and the situation is going to get worse and worse,” he said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Hunt for comment.
Last week, the Reserve Bank blamed record immigration for unaffordable housing, as growth in the value of new mortgages far outstrips wage increases.
House prices in the capital hit new highs in 2023, despite the RBA raising interest rates in November for the 13th time in 18 months, taking them to a 12-year high of 4.35 per cent.
This came after net overseas migration hit a record 518,000 during the last financial year.
The population growth rate of 2.4 per cent was Australia’s strongest since the 1950s.
Although the annual pace of permanent and long-term arrivals abroad moderated to 443,980 in November, the average value of new mortgages in December reached a record of $624,383.