Mother and her four children forced to sleep in tent due to housing crisis

One mother’s harrowing story should be the wake up call Canberra needs to fix Australia’s broken housing system once and for all.

Single mum Sarah Wade has a job, four kids and until two years ago she had a comfortable home and always paid her rent on time.

However, when the landlord evicted her and her children so they could sell the property things started to go drastically wrong.

Sarah, 29, has been rejected from dozens of rentals and her friends and family can’t help as they already live in cramped accommodation and are struggling with the soaring cost of living.

She has been on the SA Housing Trust waiting list for 12 years.

She had been listed as high priority but she was downgraded after she missed an appointment and so is still waiting for a home.

Sarah Wade and her four children are living in a tent in her mother’s garden. Picture: Keryn Stevens

After they were made homeless, Sarah and her children lived in car for two weeks and survived on barbecued meat cooked in public parks and takeaways.

After that they had a stint at her dad’s place and in a motel provided by the SA Housing Trust but she was evicted.

SA Housing Trust say this was because she didn’t meet her “weekly obligations” of applying for rentals and having welfare checks but Sarah denies these claims.

Six weeks ago she decided to take the drastic measure of erecting a tent in her mother’s back garden.

Sarah made the decision to move into the tent after being rejected by dozens of rentals. Picture: Keryn Stevens

The tent, which is currently housing Sarah and her three boys aged 10, 8 and 4 and her 12-year-old daughter, is split into three spaces.

“One has two single-bed mattresses in it, one has a double-bed mattress and the third is the entrance and classified as our family space,” Sarah told The Advertiser.

Not long after Sarah was made homeless she was diagnosed with depression.

“Not only has my life suffered due to this, but my children have, too, and that makes me feel like I don’t deserve to have them anymore, as I can’t provide the things they require,” she said.

News that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had bought a $4.3m home on the NSW Central Coast felt like insult to injury to Sarah.

Sarah Wade and her four children are living in a tent in her mother’s garden. Picture: Keryn Stevens

She said it was “disgraceful” that politicians lived in luxury while working families like hers were homeless.

South Australian Council of Social Service chief executive officer Ross Womersley said it was “unrealistic” to think anyone homeless was available to answer calls and attend meetings when they were caring for children and working.

He added that Sarah’s case highlighted the reality of thousands of people trying to find affordable homes to rent.

“If we look carefully around our community, we find people spread right across the state who are living in tents, living in caravans, living in cars, all of whom are hoping to find a property that they can move into that’s affordable and available,” he said.

An SA Housing Trust spokesman said the department had been working with Sarah “for some time to help her find a permanent housing solution”.

He said Sarah was assessed as category 1 but was downgraded “as she has not attended or rescheduled appointments to discuss her application for public housing, her application has been downgraded”.

“Given the high need for housing, applications are deemed less urgent if applicants don’t attend housing appointments and don’t seek to reschedule missed appointments,” the spokesman said.

“As Ms Wade has an income, we have also approved her for private rental assistance for bond and rent in advance for properties up to $600 a week in rent. This would assist her to find a private rental.”

He said Ms Wade had been supported throughout the past two years, including emergency accommodation.

“When people are being supported with emergency accommodation, there is the expectation they work with service providers to actively look and apply for housing,” the spokesman said.

“Despite the continued support, Ms Wade did not meet these and other obligations.

“We are committed to continuing to work with Ms Wade and will arrange another appointment for her.”