‘My colleagues would be shocked’: Full-time worker calls her car home
Jess Pomerenke has kept a shocking secret for the past nine months - she sleeps in her car at a Brisbane park each night due to the crippling rental crisis.
QLD News
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Jess Pomerenke has kept a secret for the past nine months which she says her colleagues and friends would be shocked to learn.
The 37-year-old drives to a park after work each day and spends the night sleeping in her Hyundai i30 with her three dogs.
She is one of thousands of Queenslanders who have been pushed out of the rental market due to dwindling vacancy rates and rising rent.
A full-time job in Brisbane’s CBD and 23 years of rental history have done nothing to keep her from sleeping rough.
“Never in my entire life did I ever think I would resort to sleeping in my car, especially not for nine months,” Ms Pomerenke said.
The mum-of-two said she had no choice but to flee her Ipswich home nine months ago after a relationship breakdown.
Her sons had moved elsewhere to find accommodation but Ms Pomerenke said more than 100 rental applications for herself and three dogs had proved fruitless, despite her full-time income.
“Surrendering my pets is not an option, they are my other children,” she said.
“I got my dogs to get over the loss of my mum, dad and brother over the past few years.
“And if they were still alive then there is no way I would be left in this situation for even one night.”
Ms Pomerenke felt like she had exhausted all options in her search for a pet-friendly home.
“I have tried to find shared accommodation but there are so many dodgy people out there who try to take advantage of vulnerable people, and you don’t feel safe,” she said.
Mission Australia program director Fiona Terry said safety concerns and the stigma around homelessness were barriers for many women who found themselves in a similar situation.
“We know supply is really short in the rental market, the other option of boarding houses often aren’t suitable for women because they’re too vulnerable, and then there is a lack of supply in social housing and community housing so we have all these services competing for the one house that might be available,” Ms Terry.
“It's really abhorrent, the challenges that are out there.”
Ms Terry’s role primarily focuses on helping women over 55 transition into safe accommodation.
“I’ve got maybe 10 women I’m working intensively with at the moment who we are really struggling to find any form of accommodation for,” she said.
“And it’s just not affordable.”
Two of Ms Pomerenke’s dogs are currently being pet-sit while she goes to work each day.
She showered at a public toilet on Thursday night before sleeping in a Redbank park with Koda, Summer and Boffa.
The 37-year-old is still searching for safe, pet-friendly accommodation anywhere in the Greater Brisbane region.
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