Qld housing crisis: Homeless dad sleeping in car as tiny bub, mum forced into share house

A new dad desperately trying to find a rental in Brisbane has been left with no choice but to sleep in his car while his partner and new baby stay in a group share house.

A man who has been desperately trying to break into Brisbane’s tight rental market for more than a year has been left with no choice but to sleep in his car while his partner and new baby stay in a group share house.

Craig Soden, 55, has been searching for a place to live since his partner fell pregnant last year but is now at his wits end after being knocked back from hundreds of rental applications.

He said the stress of finding a rental for his family has become so severe, it’s started to affect his mental health.

“We just keep getting overlooked,” Mr Soden said.

“We’ve applied for 50 odd (places) within a couple of weeks and were meant to look at a few this morning but they just rang and cancelled on us.

“It’s not like were sitting around doing nothing, were out and about trying to find a place but as soon as you get there, there’s 50 other people there too and you just know there’s no chance.”

Craig Soden with four-month-old George is living out of his car in a Brisbane park. Picture: Richard Walker

Mr Soden is currently living on a pension after suffering a brain injury but said he can afford $400 rent per week.

He isn’t looking for anything large or fancy, just something to fit his new family in.

“I’m sleeping in my car and I still see my partner and baby every day but I don’t get to spend the night with him,” he said.

“It’s putting a bit of a strain on our relationship.

“When we get a place and live together my partner can go back to work and I can stay home with the baby because I’m on the pension, so it’s not just that we need a house, we really need a place to stay as a family.”

Craig Soden with four-month-old George is living out of his car in a Brisbane park, Thursday, August 18, 2022 – Picture: Richard Walker

Mr Soden is one of many Queenslanders struggling to cope with the tight rental market with the latest PropTrak data showing Sunshine State properties are now spending a record-low 14 days on the market.

Vacancy rates were especially low in South East Queensland, driving strong market competition -something landlords have recently capitalised on through hefty rent raises.

But one Gold Coast Lawyer is now on a mission to lobby the government to legislate rent rise caps.

Bruce Simmonds of Parker Simmonds Solicitors and Lawyers, said the State Government has “failed” Queenslanders and should be focusing their spending on housing solutions or look at imposing rent caps on “predatory landlords.”

Bruce Simmonds says the state government is not doing enough to assist Queenslanders struggling with the rental crisis. Picture supplied

“I’ve had calls from people desperate to know their legal options because of the volatile rental market and the tragedy from a legal perspective is that tenants have few protections,” Mr Simmonds said.

“The state was willing to spend untold millions of dollars for unused hotel rooms for Covid quarantine purposes, yet they do nothing when Queenslanders are forced on to the streets because of outrageous rent increases.”

Mr Simmonds said the government already has a map it could use to create a better rent negotiation process after introducing the Covid hardship rental support package.

“When a party is aggrieved they should review the rent price based on hardship, just add that one line of legislation,” he said.

“The test used to work out that hardship would have to be government issued and based on a wide range of factors so as not to create a checklist system, and then like the current appeals process, QCAT could handle it directly.

“It could also allow the landlord to do small increment increases over a period rather than a large one off rent increase.”

Craig Soden with four-month-old George is living out of his car in a Brisbane park, Thursday, August 18, 2022 – Picture: Richard Walker

For Mr Soden, time is running out.

He fears his child may be taken away from him if he can’t find adequate housing soon.

“If child safety find out we don’t have proper accommodation they can take him away as well,” he said.

“But we are not criminals, we don't do drugs or anything like that, we just keep getting overlooked.

“Well just keep applying and hope for the best, it’s getting really hard though.”