A family of seven disclosed that they were forced to reside in a tent after being evicted from their in need of repair residence.
Patricia Thompson used the social media app TikTok to capture her family’s plight during Australia’s harrowing rental crisis.
In August, the family was forced to vacate their home because it required extensive repairs.
Since then, the family has applied for housing between Nowra, on the south coast of New South Wales, and the Victorian border.
“We lived in mum’s backyard for a while, but her real estate didn’t want a large family there, so we had to go,” Thompson told 7 News.
The family subsequently moved into a caravan park, where they purchased an inexpensive tent, but were only allowed to stay for a limited time.
Thompson stated that staying in the tent was “cozy.”
“And it was difficult at times,” she explained. Our youngest child is one year old, and she enjoys waking up at the crack of dawn, which causes everyone else to awaken as well.
The family also created a GoFundMe page to assist.
As their time limit was about to expire and other mobile parks in the vicinity were becoming full, Mission Australia placed the family on a priority housing list.
Due to the size of their family, however, it took some time for them to be placed.
But finally, the family received excellent news.
Thompson posted on TikTok, “I’m quite ill at the moment, but we’re in a hotel room and we’ve received fantastic news.
“We own a home!” This four-bedroom home is around two and a half hours from where we are.
Therefore, we are attempting to plan the removal of our belongings from storage and their transport to the destination. It’s very impressive.”
She noted that she was ill, so she probably did not sound ecstatic about the wonderful news, but she was ecstatic.
As a result of her family’s ordeal, Thompson believes the government must do more to assist people experiencing rental stress.
She remarked, “It’s crazy that while you’re renting, the landlord can terminate your lease at any time with no explanation.”
She encourages others in her position to keep their heads up and stick together.