Carol Morris and her dog forced to live in van for past six months amid SA’s housing crisis

Carol Morris had a business and a life. She didn’t expect to be living in a van at 59. As another victim of SA’s rental crisis, she’s discovered homelessness can hit anyone.

For the past six months Carol Morris and her dog have called a converted plumber’s van home.

In February the lease at Ms Morris’ Glenelg rental was not renewed and she has been living in a 1993 Ford Econovan, which she had installed a bed and drawers in, with six-year-old golden retriever Ringo.

“It can happen to anybody because I had a really good lifestyle,” Ms Morris, 59, said.

“I had a business, I had a house I was renting, and now I’m in a plumber’s van sleeping with my dog in carparks.”

Ms Morris, who often stayed in carparks or on the side of the road, said in the past six months she has travelled from South Australia all the way to the top of New South Wales and had not been able to secure long-term accommodation.

Carol Morris and her dog Ringo have been forced to live in a van since February. Picture: Brenton Edwards

“I can’t get a house, I can’t get anything,” she said.

Ms Morris, who receives around $600 per fortnight of Jobseeker payment, said after deductions of around $250 for car expenses and a loan came out she was left with barely enough to pay for food for her and Ringo, let alone afford the $60 a night she had previously paid for powered sites at caravan parks.

She said she was in the highest category on Housing SA’s waitlist for accommodation but had not been offered accommodation by the organisation.

Housing SA confirmed Ms Morris was in the top category and that the organisation had reached out to her on Tuesday to further discuss her circumstances.

Ms Morris also said she had been involved with Junction Housing, a non-government housing organisation, but four interviews with the organisation had been cancelled.

Carol Morris and her dog Ringo have been forced to live in a van since February. Picture: Brenton Edwards

A Junction spokeswoman said Ms Morris had an interview on Thursday to establish her circumstances.

Before the pandemic, Ms Morris had run a chauffeur business but said rideshare companies such as Uber had taken away most of her business.

Ms Morris considered herself lucky that she had the security of her van but said it was “like a prison”.

“Some nights ... I feel like it’s a coffin,” she said.

She admitted despite her usually positive outlook, the past six months had taken a toll on both her and her pet.

“As the situation changed my self confidence plummeted,” she said. “I haven’t been able to work, I haven’t been able to see my friends.”

She’s become so deperate she is questioning what will become of her by her 60th birthday next month.

“How am I going to keep living like this,” she said.

Carol Morris and her dog Ringo have been forced to live in a van since February. Picture: Brenton Edwards

She also said the refridgerator in her van broke down “every two days” and the marquee she had just purchased to use as an undercover kitchen area had been destroyed in recent wind.

On Monday night she had stayed in the driveway of a friend in Mount Barker so she could access power for heating.

“It’s very humiliating but if I didn’t have that, where would I be?” she said.

Since February Ms Morris has seen first-hand South Australia’s rental crisis worsen.

“I met a 72-year-old woman at a caravan park ... who said she couldn’t afford her unit ... her family wouldn’t have her, so she was renting the caravan park owner’s caravan,” she said.

“That really broke my heart because my own mother died at 72 and I thought how terrible for this lady to be in this situation. This is really getting beyond despair.”

Ms Morris said a “rent freeze” was the only way people would be able to secure accommodation amidst the current housing crisis.

On Monday Premier Peter Malinauskas announced the first 44 contracts of Labor’s promised 400 public housing homes had been signed, with a further 33 expected to be signed in the coming weeks.