I couldn’t find a rental so turned to picking up dog poo for a roof over my head

This morning, I stuck my hand into a plastic bag and picked up someone else’s dog’s poo.

To be clear, this wasn’t an altruistic move: I was picking up after one of the two dogs I’m currently looking after in exchange for a place to stay.

Rachel Clun didn’t anticipate that she’d be picking up a stranger’s dog’s poo in order to have a roof over her head.Credit: Getty Images

Pet-sitting has had its positives and negatives, but the biggest drawcard for me was that it has given me a buffer period – somewhere to live while I hunt for a place to rent without having to use up my life savings on Airbnbs or other short-term accommodation.

Mercifully, I’m not hunting in Sydney or Melbourne, where rental demand has been at an all-time high and availability at an all-time low. But ask anyone searching for a rental, and they will tell you it remains a diabolical task.

First, rents are continuing to rise at a clip. While inflation overall has moderated to a reasonable level of 2.8 per cent, rental inflation remains well above its pre-pandemic level – the Australian Bureau of Statistics says that between June and September it eased by only 0.6 of a percentage point – from 7.3 per cent to 6.7 per cent – thanks to an increase in Commonwealth Rent Assistance. Had the federal government not increased the maximum rent assistance by 10 per cent in September, rental inflation would have risen by 8.5 per cent through the year.

As the ABS points out, a large factor driving rental prices ever higher is the lack of available rental properties. According to CoreLogic’s November housing data, the national vacancy rate is sitting at just 1.8 per cent. And while that is not as tight as it was last year (1.4 per cent), it remains well below the five-year pre-COVID average.

For example, Sydney’s rental vacancy rate is 2.2 per cent, while the pre-COVID five-year average was 3.1 per cent. In Melbourne, the current vacancy rate of 1.5 per cent is also shy of its previous 1.9 per cent average.

In Perth and Brisbane, the story is much more dramatic – Brisbane’s vacancy rate of 2.1 per cent is half that of its 4.2 per cent five-year average, while Perth went from a 5.8 per cent pre-pandemic average to just 1.2 per cent today.

That means more people competing for fewer homes. Which translates to long queues at inspections, an increase in rent bidding (it’s illegal in most places for an agent to ask for a higher offer, but they can accept a higher bid), people offering to pay six or even 12 months of rent upfront, and just about any other competitive practice you can think of.

For me, this is where pet-sitting came in. Moving to a new and expensive city and trying to find a rental was always going to be tough, but the prospect of spending a small fortune on short-term accommodation didn’t appeal. That’s when I stumbled upon an article about people who do long-term house-sitting stints. One Google search later, I’d found a subscriber-only pet-sitting website with great reviews, and dove in.

Within a couple of weeks, I’d organised three pet-sits: one looking after an elderly cat, a second looking after an energetic goldendoodle, and the last caring for an extra-large bulldog-staffy cross.

Collectively, the three pet-sits provided nearly two months of accommodation, which saved a ton of money. The going rate at a decent hostel is about $100 a night, so the subscription fee quickly paid for itself and then some.

Another positive was simply having a pet around. Renting with pets is extremely difficult, even with better tenancy rights for pet owners, so hanging out with a new furry friend was a joy.

One downside, however, was location. While there were plenty of short-sit opportunities in the city, the longer pet-sits I found were all on the outskirts of the city, and not necessarily in the most vibrant places. That, coupled with the needs of each individual pet, meant I was limited in where I could go and for how long.

Then there’s the fact you have to move all your things every couple of weeks. While that wasn’t a problem for me given my new-arrival status, it’s not ideal if you have a whole household worth of stuff.

Thankfully, I got lucky and have found a rental. But the level of organisation required to hunt, which felt like a full-time job in and of itself, coupled with the competition of securing a place, highlights the pain of renting in our current market.

That the stop-gap solution was picking up poo for free surely confirms how dire the situation really is.

Rachel Clun is a former economics correspondent for this masthead.

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