Homeless dad forced to share one mattress with his two kids

A single dad who has been searching for a home for himself and his two young kids for more than five months has opened up about his desperate situation.

One struggling victim of Australia’s soaring living costs is a single dad who has been sharing a single mattress with his two kids while desperately searching for accommodation.

For more than five months, Adelaide man Ash Brown has been relentlessly scouring the market for a rental and has applied for more than 360 properties.

His efforts have however been unfruitful, leaving him and his young children with no choice but to share a single room in his parents’ home.

“I really wanted to be in a home by his [my son’s] fifth birthday which is tomorrow, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen,” Mr Brown told 7 News.

Ash Brown has been sharing a room with his kids while desperately searching for a home. Picture: 7 News

He said the affect of the crushed rental market had left him feeling inadequate as a dad.

“I feel like I’m failing my kids [by] not being able to provide them with a home, even though I’m doing everything I possibly can,” he said.

Mr Brown’s situation is sadly far from unique, with people across the country being forced into homelessness because of the rental crisis.

Data from PropTrack in May showed weekly rental prices were averaging from $420 to $575 per week across Australia’s biggest cities.

PropTrack director for economic research Cameron Kusher told news.com.au it was a seriously challenging time for renters across the nation – not only those in our major cities.

“It’s really tough at the moment. Rents are rising pretty much everywhere in the country – Sydney and Melbourne hadn’t been seeing rent rises for a while, but they are also starting to increase,” he said.

“There are a lot less properties on the market, and a lot more people looking.”

Last month, Gold Coast mum-of-three Tracey Cunningham told news.com.au she applied for a hundred rentals and was rejected by all of them.

Mr Brown has been looking for more than five months. Picture: 7 News

It came after the home she had been renting for five years was sold.

The 37-year-old said her family ended up homeless for a few weeks and were forced to stay in a caravan, while the kids had to miss school.

According to the most recent PropTrack figures, from the three months to March 2022, median weekly advertised rental rates increased by 4.7 per cent year-on-year – the strongest annual rate of rental growth recorded since before 2015.

Rents across the combined capital cities were 1.1 per cent higher over both that three-month period and the past year.

Across the combined regional markets, rents increased by 2.4 per cent over the same period and they have risen by 10.3 per cent year-on-year.