Townsville family facing homeless amid housing, rental crisis

A Townsville mum of four will be forced to live in a tent with her family after months of struggling to find a house due to NQ’s growing rental crisis. But she’s not alone.

A Townsville mum of four will be forced to live in a tent with her family after months of struggling to find a house due to North Queensland’s growing housing crisis.

Vincent mum Jessica Carr says her young family is now facing homelessness after being told to vacate their rental home due to renovations and not being able to find another rental despite two months of sending out applications.

She is one of more than 4000 people in Townsville waiting on the social housing list, which has an average wait time of about two years.

It comes as the number of people seeking assistance have doubled this year at Townsville’s Homelessness Hub with nearly 5000 people making contact since January.

The desperate young mum says she’s also reached out to Family Emergency Accommodation Townsville and Yumba-Meta Housing Association but was told there’s no space for them at the moment.

Townsville mum Jessica Carr will be forced to camp with her young family due to the housing crisis. She's pictured with her kids Ricky, 14, Talisha, 12, and Hayley, 5. Not pictured is her 15-month-old son Sam.

“All the shelters are basically full, I’m probably going have to take my family and live out of our car and in tents — that’s the reality we’re facing,” she said.

“Being in a position where my family doesn’t have a roof over our heads is heartbreaking.

“The rental prices are ridiculous, I can’t find anything under $450 a week, and when they see you’ve got a lot of kids or any pets, you go straight down the list of applications.”

It comes as Townsville reported record low rental vacancies at just 0.6 per cent in the March quarter, according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland.

Red Cross’ acting regional operations manager Gabrielle McCosker said they were receiving a significant increase in calls from families like Ms Carr’s who have never faced homelessness before sleeping in cars, tents and motels.

Queensland Council of Social Services chief executive Aimee McVeigh said the current housing crisis shows why the federal government’s National Rental Affordability Scheme shouldn’t be phased out.

“In Townsville, there are almost 500 properties which will be phased out between 2022 and 2025, with almost 100 on the chopping block this year,” she said.

“Each one of those properties represents a household – families and individuals stressed and anxious about the possibility of becoming homeless.”

Ms Carr said the mounting cost of living have also been “crushing” her single-income family.

“I’ve had to go without food many nights just to make sure the kids eat,” she said.

“It’s a scary situation, but no one seems to care.”

Jessica Carr‘s kids Ricky, 14, Talisha, 12, Hayley, 5 and 15-month-old Sam.

Ms Carr, who works as a commercial cleaner, said she’s now urgently looking for a second job to support her family while her partner, a disability pensioner, is unable to work.

In the worst-case scenario, her family may have to temporarily “split up,” with the older kids staying with their grandmother interstate while Ms Carr continues to work and look for somewhere for them to live together.

“It’s terrible, for any parent, the thought of having to break up your family is the worst thing imaginable,” Ms Carr said through tears. “But I don’t have many options left.”

You can donate to the family’s GoFundMe appeal here: https://gofund.me/f12fb2e6

Originally published as Townsville family facing homeless amid housing, rental crisis