A single mother who’s been forced to move into her car with her 12-year-old daughter and pets has called on the government to put its own citizens first.
Port Macquarie woman Christine Cameron never imagined she would become homeless.
But in June, after being forced out of her private rental in Wauchope, on New South Wales’ Mid North Coast and unable to continue her dog grooming business, her life quickly fell apart.
With nowhere to go, the pair parked their Nissan X-Trail beside a local park and tried to make the best of it.
While living in her car, Ms Cameron discovered a video of Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan arranging housing for an immigrant.
‘That moved me,’ she said, adding: ‘I just thought: “What about me, I’ve lived here all my life and I can’t get that”.
‘Why don’t we help our own backyard first?’
While living in the car, Ms Cameron worried constantly about police knocking on the window or strangers approaching.
‘I started worrying about a cop shining a light in the window, tapping, and saying, “you can’t be here” and that I’d get a fine or something.’
‘I started thinking maybe I’m not in a good spot, but thought if something did happen and someone with bad intentions came up and started hassling me, then someone would see me, being in a well-lit area.’
The hardest part wasn’t just the fear of strangers, it was keeping life as normal as possible for her daughter Grace.
‘It was very difficult,’ Ms Cameron said. ‘Grace and I would go to the RSL to use the free Wi-Fi, and we would do her assignments and things there.’
The physical toll of living in the car was impossible to ignore, and she desperately tried to get into housing.
‘I ended up with really sore, achy hips that would even wake me up in the middle of the night, and I’d roll over and realise: “Oh, yeah, that’s right, that hip is sore too”.’
The reality of her new homeless life hit hard when Christine applied for social housing and was told the wait could be up to ten years, and that there was ‘absolutely no’ vacant emergency housing.
With a cat and a bird in tow, the single mum found herself turned away by every landlord, despite her long history in private rentals.
While homeless, the pair have learned to ration every meal, splitting their lunch so there’s something left for dinner, relying on free food from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency’s free food service, Community Connect Wauchope Soupervan.
After sleeping rough in the park, they scraped together to move into a caravan park, their home for three weeks, before Adventist volunteers Helen and Troy Eggleton stepped in to help find them temporary shelter.
Now, she lives in a friend’s garage.
Despite everything, Ms Cameron’s eyes are fixed on the future and she hopes to continue building her pet grooming business and one day plans to grow a garden.
‘That’s what I’m really looking forward to, is getting back to gardening. Planting a tree in the ground and knowing it’s mine.
‘I did that when I was pregnant with Grace, planted all these fruit trees and garden beds and we would eat the fruit off the trees – mulberries, cherries and cucumbers.
‘I remember her walking around as a little kid, just putting the cucumbers in her mouth and eating the stem, that’s how kids should grow up.
‘I would really, really like to do that again, plant a tree, look after it, and in a couple of years, start eating the fruit with my daughter again.’
Ms Eggleton said the single mother’s story is far from unique, adding more and more ns were falling through the cracks in the rental market.
‘Our patrons consist of those who are homeless in every sense of the word through to those who are simply lonely,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘Most of the homeless we see are invisible to the general public. They take pride in their appearance, they often work and live in their cars or tents.
‘They have capacity to pay rent but often fall through the loopholes of the rental market for various reasons – their names have not been on rental agreements but their ex-partners have been, for example.’
‘There will always be the stereotypical “homeless” of those suffering from mental health issues and drug and alcohol problems but they are now the minority we see.
‘Anyone of us could find ourselves homeless from a variety of circumstances whether it be illness, domestic violence or family breakdown, change in employment, owners moving back into their home or increasing the rent so it’s no longer affordable or selling their rental property.’
Recent data by Homelessness reveals the number of people accessing their services each month has grown by 10 per cent since the Albanese government came into power in May 2022. The situation is even more dire for women and girls, with an increase of 14 per cent.
While women and children go without a roof over their heads, immigration is booming, which experts say is putting unprecedented strain on the local property market.
n Bureau of Statistics figures show in the year to May, 1.1 million permanent and long-term arrivals hit n shores, including international students and skilled workers.
In cities soaking up the bulk of the arrivals like Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and increasingly Brisbane, the competition for rentals is fierce, sending rents and house prices soaring.
n Population Research Institute president Bob Birrell blamed the housing crisis on record overseas migration, which meant working ns were being pushed out of the market, unable to buy or rent.
‘The Albanese government is completely irresponsible on this issue,’ he said.
‘They have neglected it ever since they got back into power in 2022, they’ve just let immigration rip.
‘We’ve had enormous levels of migrants, which is just unprecedented, and irresponsible in the context of the housing crisis.’
Dr Birrell said part of the problem is the skilled migration program recruits hardly any tradespeople, especially for the beleaguered building industry.
‘Migration is not adding to the supply of those important trades at all,’ he said.
‘Although a lot of temporary migrants who are adrift in Melbourne and Sydney would probably like to take up an apprenticeship in these areas, they can’t, because they’re temporaries.’
Freelancer CEO Matt Barrie said the Albanese government had created a system so perverse doctors were living in share houses and nurses were sleeping in their cars.
‘The Great n Dream is now mathematically impossible for the average n,’ he said.
‘In Sydney it now takes 46 years just to save a house deposit. Think about that, for a child born in Sydney today, their retirement party will come before they’ve saved enough for a house deposit.’
Mr Barrie said the housing crisis had been ‘engineered’ by the government which has flooded the country with the largest immigration wave in history.
‘Why, in a cost of living crisis, would they allow nearly one million international student enrolments?
‘Why, in a cost of living crisis, would they allow 2.46 million people on temporary visas into a country of 27 million when there’s only 36,000 rental vacancies?’
Everybody’s Home spokeswoman Maiy Azize said the Albanese government has a chance to deliver a lasting legacy on housing or risk being remembered for letting it slip away.
She issued a written warning to Treasurer Jim Chalmers that the Albanese government could not meet its commitment of supplying 1.2 million homes by 2029.
‘This is a national crisis that is now pricing out everyday people right across the country,’ she said.
‘The government can’t ignore the increasing number of ns who are sleeping on streets and couches, forgoing food and medicine to pay rent, and living in unsafe and makeshift housing.’