Toowoomba pensioner Robynne Charlton faces homelessness after 25 years in rental

A 75-year-old pensioner has revealed how historically low rental vacancies has left her with days to find a home, or live in a tent.

Welcome to Robynne Charlton’s home – a lush garden of loquat, palm and hibiscus trees surrounding a two-bedroom house where the walls are lined with vintage ‘70s wallpaper and carefully curated picture boards of family photos.

But it all changed two months ago when the 75-year-old single pensioner checked her mail and discovered her Toowoomba rental had been sold.

She could no longer afford the Newtown house she had lovingly patched and mended over the past quarter of a century.

75-year-old Robynne Charlton is about to face homelessness after her 25-year rental home was sold. She is hoping to find other mature single women to share a house with, Monday, November 4, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“If I can’t find a place, my friend offered me her late husband’s army tent in her garage,” Ms Charlton said.

“I wrote my first book in a hut on a beach in the Philippines, so I should be OK.”

Despite her cheery disposition, this confronting joke might well be her reality after November 16, 2024.

Ms Charlton faces joining a growing homeless population of single, elderly women pensioners who have been priced out of the rental market.

Currently the statewide rental vacancy rate is 1 per cent, as opposed to a “healthy” 3 per cent.

In Toowoomba vacancy rates sit at 0.6 per cent, with Goondiwindi experiencing the tightest state vacancy rate at 0.1 per cent.

At the same time, rents have skyrocketed, with renters paying on average $8000 more a year than they were four years ago.

Ms Charlton said she was offered another lease for a year – but at double the rent ($400/week), but had to refuse as she could only afford to pay $300/week on her pension.

75-year-old Robynne Charlton is about to face homelessness after her 25-year rental home was sold. She is hoping to find other mature single women to share a house with, Monday, November 4, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

When writing this, only five properties were listed in Toowoomba and surrounds on realestate.com.au for $300/week or lower and Ms Charlton described the ones she had seen as resembling a “rathole” with queues of people lining up for inspection.

For regional Queensland renters, such as those in Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, many have little choice but to pay the spike – or if they can’t afford it, find other creative means of living.

An artist, an author, a former paralegal, and a world traveller, the 75-year-old has been married twice, raised three kids, and has a fierce streak of independence offset by gentle creativity and a soft voice.

So she has taken a creative means, and is on the hunt to find a housemate – an another single, mature woman with similar interests and in similar circumstances.

“We could rent a decent house together,” she said.

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