Adelaide family homeless after 227 applications for rental vacancies rejected in 16 months

They’ve been looking for a new place to stay for nearly two years but their applications have been rejected 227 times. Now the family are facing homelessness.

An Adelaide family of five have been left homeless after 227 rental applications they made were rejected.

On Monday, Hayden Coonan, 39, his partner Aimee Kent, 34, and their three young children spent their last day with a place to live.

As of Tuesday, they were evicted from the property on the basis of a no reason termination. The property requires major maintenance which could explain the sudden eviction. 

The family had been searching for a new rental home for more than a year — almost as soon as they moved into the Morphett Vale home in October 2020 — because of its state of disrepair.

“It wasn’t long until we started having problems with the house — gas was off, no hot water, burst water pipes,” Mr Coonan told news.com.au.

Aimee also has an older daughter from another relationship who they wanted to accommodate. They wanted to find a new home with an extra bedroom so the teenager could live with them.

But despite having a dual income and a spotless rental record, the couple were knocked back a devastating 227 times over the last 18 months.

“We’ve kept on looking, not getting anywhere, there’s no rhyme or reason [to the rejections],” he added. “You never anticipate it taking this long. It just dragged on and on.”

They’ve run out of time and are now homeless.

Hayden Coonan and Aimee Kent are homeless as of Tuesday.

The distressed couple are facing having to sleep in their car with their three kids.

They’ve also seriously considered buying a caravan but they don’t know of any caravan sites nearby.

Their twins are aged just six and the eldest is nine years old. The two eldest children have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, making sleeping in a car or caravan even more difficult.

In another blow, the youngest twin has a degenerative physical disability, making it crucial she is kept comfortable and away from tricky movements such as stairs.

A motel is another option but it would leave them out of pocket.

They plan to stay at Aimee’s mother’s place for several days before they decide what to do.

“We’re there for now. It’s a three-bedroom house, there’s eight of us there,” Mr Coonan said.

Eight people are now squashed into the small house — their family of five, Aime’s mother and her partner, as well as Aimee’s eldest daughter.

Currently, the three young children are sleeping in the dining room.

The family are there illegally as they are not on the lease.

The house is also an hour away from where they work.

These kids, aged nine, six and six respectively, have no permanent home to call their own.

Although Mr Coonan concedes that both their jobs have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, they’ve always had “plenty of income”.

He was at a house inspection recently and the realtor gave him and his partner “glowing references” but they still missed out on landing the lease.

They often find the rental properties that they missed out went for as much as $150 more than the original price.

“There are properties being advertised for $380 [which is in their price range], they eventually go for $480,” he recalled.

It comes as Adelaide finds itself in the grips of a rental crisis, with thousands of people on emergency waitlists for subsidised housing.

The latest data from Domain released last month shows that rent in Adelaide rose by 9.8 per cent last year.

According to the report, the average rental price went from $410 at the beginning of the year to $450 by year’s end.

It’s sadly a phenomenon not limited to South Australia.

Southeast Queensland is also in the throes of drastically decreasing rent affordability, as are other parts of regional Australia.

The couple have been applying for rental vacancies since late 2020.

They have been rejected 227 times with no discernible reason.

Mr Coonan and Ms Kent have been placed on a high priority list for social housing.

“Housing SA can confirm it is assisting Mr Coonan and Ms Kent and staff have spoken with them several times,” a spokesperson told news.com.au.

“Assistance has included rental advisory support, such as assistance with preparing information for rental applications.

“They are currently category 1, the most urgent category, on the Housing SA register.”

As of the end of last year, there were 2,923 Category 1 applicants waiting for a South Australian home to live in.

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