Housing crisis: Mackay Sellers family lives in mechanic workshop

A Mackay family was forced to live on the floor of a mechanic’s workshop and beg for food as they found themselves snared in the housing crisis. And they are not alone. SPECIAL REPORT, VIDEOS

A family of 12 was forced to live on the floor of a mechanics workshop and beg for food as they found themselves snared in the housing crisis’ trap.

Mark Sellers prides himself on providing for his family and has owned his mechanics business for 12 years.

But after he was kicked out of the shed his business operated from so the property could be sold, the Sellers’ world came crashing down.

Mr Sellers said they had scrounged together a $25,000 deposit to buy the home they were renting on a periodic lease, an old squash court west of Mackay in poor condition.

But when he was forced to find a new shed for his mechanics’ business, the loan settlement fell through.

The father said they were given notice to vacate the Walkerston rental home, and they never again saw a cent of their hard-earned savings, both their home loan deposit and the thousands of dollars tied up in a rental bond.

Mr Sellers said they also lost about $100,000 of personal property as they had fewer than four weeks to leave with nowhere to go and so they had to leave many possessions behind.

“I couldn’t get rid of it, I couldn’t sell it … I thought, ‘You know what, you’ve got my $25,000, you pay for it to be taken away’,” he said.

“(After that) we looked around and we stayed at Haliday Bay for a little bit.

“It was like $1400 to $1600 a week to stay there because we’ve got to have two rooms.”

Mr Sellers says it was unsustainable and so they made a decision to move as a family into their new industrial workshop in Mackay, a move they concede was “obviously not legal” but one they had no choice in.

“We lived on … camp mattresses and stuff with the kids … for four months,” he said.

“We set up a little shower in the corner, a camp shower, so we actually had hot water and shower ability and we had a toilet, so at least that was something.”

The Sellers family has been thrown into turmoil by the housing and accommodation crisis smashing Mackay. Pictured are mum and dad Melanie and Mark with two of their 10 children, Zacharia, 6, and Elijah, 15. Picture: Heidi Petith

Mr Sellers said it was difficult with 10 kids aged from three to 20, including two who were recently diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum.

Then there were the pets including their dog, two budgies and cats.

He said they asked for help from organisations and charities to no avail.

“Basically they slammed the door in our face and said, ‘Sorry, there’s nothing we can do … you’re too big, there’s nothing we can do’.”

And so the family “stashed off” their two eldest kids to relatives and moved with their youngest eight into two rooms at a Mackay motel where they paid $1500 a week leaving them short to pay for food and fuel.

Mr Sellers said they begged again for help and managed to receive some financial assistance, reducing their weekly rent to $900.

Meanwhile they’re forking out $1500 a month to store what little they have left of their possessions.

He says their desperate situation is emotionally taxing on the whole family including the kids whose schoolwork is starting to slip, as their sleep routines, stability, and diets are thrown into turmoil.

Mum Melanie and little Zacharia, 6, share a moment as they hang out at dad’s workshop, where they used to live together as a family of 12. Picture: Heidi Petith

He said they had applied for hundreds of properties up to $700 per week but were continually turned down despite having a 20-year perfect rental record.

Wife Melanie said they were sometimes rejected only hours after applying.

The family is even applying for properties out west but say they just can’t compete in the current market.

“As a dad, it really kind of messes with your head, you want to provide,” Mr Sellers said.

“We’re pretty much eating toast these days,” Mrs Sellers added.

But the couple is committed to keeping their roots in Mackay, having raised their family in the region

“Even if you look at going anywhere, where do you go? And I’ve got a business as well,” Mr Sellers said.

Mrs Sellers says they are ineligible for public housing as their Centrelink income combined with her husband’s wage pushes them over the $1120 threshold, and so they will continue to apply for housing, looking further and further out west.

“I’m not too proud to say, ‘Hey this is f---ked’,” Mr Sellers said, adding it was frustrating that greed and “fly by night” real estate agents – though he stressed this did not apply to all – were perpetuating the situation.

“I feel bad asking for help.”

A ‘disgrace’: Bella says council has ‘done nothing’

Mackay region councillor Martin Bella labelled the crisis a “disgrace” and wants Mackay Regional Council to step up.

Mr Bella wants lip service and meetings to be urgently replaced with action and a fresh approach.

He said “the whole world had changed” with more than just the “down-and-outers” without a roof over their head.

“It’s not enough to say it’s the (state) government’s fault; they dropped the ball too,” he said.

“Council is the level of government closest … We have done nothing.

Councillor Martin Bella says mining companies can put a up a camp in a week. Picture: Duncan Evans

“Mining companies can put up camp in a week.

“Where there is a will, as they say; every day that passes for people without a home is a disgrace.”

Mr Bella suggested demountable homes could provide short-term accommodation, adding the council could divert funding from projects like the Resources Centre of Excellence and the 2032 Olympics which could “take a back seat for a year”.

He said charities were “run off their feet” as they tried to arrange accommodation for homeless working families.

“Vinnies have motel rooms for them at an enormous cost and they are fully booked out,” Mr Bella said.

He also pointed out the accommodation issue was fuelling worker shortages and stymieing the council’s push for more business in Mackay.

Housing supply not a council domain: Mayor

Mackay mayor Greg Williamson said housing supply was not in the council’s domain, putting the onus back on the property market.

He said there were 4750 lots approved for residential developments but only 227 had gone to market per year over the past five years.

“The number of approved lots (since 2010-2011) has basically not fallen,” Mr Williamson said.

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson says there is a critical shortage of tradies.Picture: Duncan Evans

“Why aren’t developers building these houses?

“One reason is we can’t get workers up here.

“Tradies are tied up in the southeast and northern NSW with the flood work and they will be tied up for years.”

Mr Williamson said builders’ unwillingness to offer fixed price contracts was a further issue affecting the entire state.

Arriving in town with nowhere to go

Deputy Mayor Karen May said it was concerning people were arriving in Mackay without accommodation with three agencies alone dealing with 100 homeless people per week.

Mrs May said 950 people were on a waiting list for the region’s 2500 affordable houses.

She added real estate agents had reported a 20 to 30 per cent drop in the rental pool over 12 months as investors either sold up or moved into their homes.

A change of rules

As the crisis tightens, the Queensland government has eased planning requirements for local councils on house sharing.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the changes would provide more housing options in lower density residential zones.

“By removing the requirement for local government planning approval, providing other requirements are met, we can accelerate the development of rooming accommodation in areas where residential development is expected,” Mr Miles said.

With housing stress escalating across the Greater Whitsundays, a roundtable in Mackay on December 6 tried to chart a path forward.

Delegates at the Greater Whitsunday Housing Roundtable summit held in Mackay on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. Picture: Andrew Kacimaiwai

The meeting, organised between the Greater Whitsunday Communities and RDA Greater Whitsundays, was geared towards reaching an agreement on a regional strategy.

A summit planned for January 2023 will focus on solutions and will be open to the public.

Representatives from Master Builders Australia, UDIA, Indigenous Housing, WIMHHAN, Connect Housing, Whitsunday Housing Trust, Isaac Housing Trust, RDA, GW3, REIQ and Greater Whitsunday Communities, developers, lenders and brokers took part.

Federal Dawson MP Andrew Willcox said a “two-speed” economy was developing and flowed into housing affordability.

“Higher income earners can drive new housing while the struggle is at the bottom end with social housing,” he said.