Warwick rental crisis threatens to tear down dreams of united family

Time is running out for this dad-to-be as the desperate shortage of rental housing in the Rose City could force him to live hours away from his newborn baby and the rest of the family he adores.

Warwick resident Brendan McGaw and his pregnant partner Lexie are desperate to find a home for their growing family.

The dire shortage of rental properties in Warwick has left a father-to-be only weeks to find a home for his pregnant partner and their family, or face living hours away from his newborn baby.

Rose City resident and sandstone quarry worker Brendan McGaw and his long-term partner Lexie, who currently lives in Brisbane with her two children, always intended to bring their family together under the one roof.

Now with a new baby due in November and Lexie’s current lease expiring months before then, Mr McGaw said it was a desperate race to be approved for one of only a few suitable properties in Warwick.

“Rentals in town are so scarce at the moment, it’s terrible – I don’t think either of us were expecting it to be so difficult,” he said.

“I’ve been living here for years, and at one point the real estates were just throwing houses at everybody trying to get rentals filled, but that’s not so much the case now.

“One of the real estate agents I was speaking to said there were a lot of people applying for the one house, so it’s taking them a while to work through the applications because there’s just so much competition.”

Warwick resident Brendan McGaw with partner Lexie and her children Aisla, 7, and Mereseine, 4. Picture: contributed

Only limited by their need for several bedrooms and a location within walking distance of a primary school for their daughters, aged 7 and 4, Mr McGaw said it would be heartbreaking for him to live apart from his newborn baby.

“I can’t have (Lexie) with a newborn on the other side of the range if I’ve got to keep working here to keep them supported,” he said.

“We’d much rather raise the kids (here) in a country town, it’s just quiet and lovely here, and it’s not really that far from Toowoomba or Brisbane when you need things you can’t get here.

“It would be the first time we’d live together as a family. It would be a sense of completion for us and finally moving towards being a proper family.”

Exhausting the options available through real estate agencies and websites, the family turned to social media in an attempt to find properties before they hit the market.

Mr McGaw said he and his family were desperate to be united by the time their new baby arrives in November. Picture: contributed

“I did get a lot of positive messages from people just by doing that. We even had one person say they’re leaving in mid-July and who they’re renting through, which is what we were hoping for,” Mr McGaw said.

“I reckon we’d be well past 15 places we’ve applied for so far, and it’ll only go up. Some weeks there’s no houses being posted at all, which isn’t easy.

“We haven’t focused on the worst-case scenario yet, we’re just hoping we’re going to find something before then. We’re trying to leave the ‘what-ifs’ until later.”

Real estate agents say Warwick has been in the grips of a worsening rental crisis since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, with an influx of “tree-changers” moving to regional communities driving up competition.