$160 to share bunk bed: Housing crisis laid bare in Gumtree ad

A new advertisement offering a “share room” shows how dire the homelessness crisis is, opposition parties say.

A bunk bed. Half of one of these could be yours to rent for just $160 a week. Picture: CHRIS EASTMAN

OPPOSITION parties say an advertisement to share a Hobart bunk bed for $160 a week lays bare the worsening housing crisis in Tasmania.

The Gumtree advertisement for a “share room” in Hobart’s CBD follows an offer last month of a single bed in the hallway of a North Hobart home for $75 a week.

TO RENT: ONE BED IN A NORTH HOBART HALLWAY

“I’ll have one single bed in share room available on 24 June 2019,” the new advertisement said.

“Close to everywhere in Hobart CBD such as school, uni or any store around CBD.”

Opposition housing spokeswoman Alison Standen said the ad showed how few options were available to people looking for a home.

“In the housing crisis that Tasmania is experiencing, unfortunately the opportunity is there for unscrupulous people to prey upon people in desperate circumstances,” Ms Standen said.

Opposition housing spokeswoman Alison Standen said the ad showed how few options were available to people looking for a home. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said the Gumtree post painted “a clear but terrible picture”.

“Thousands of Tasmanians are in housing stress. Many people will look at an ad like that and know it might be their only option for a clean, dry bed at night,” Ms O’Connor said.

“Tasmania’s housing crisis is surely obvious to everyone except the Hodgman government.”

The advertisement comes as the Uniting Church in Hobart reports a marked increase in people accessing emergency relief and community meals.

Church community services co-ordinator Charlotte Ryan said there had been a six-fold increase in homelessness in people aged 15 or younger in the past year.

“Overall, we’ve seen an increase of 30 per cent in the number of homeless people just in the last 12 months,” Ms Ryan said.

“There’s a lot of new faces.”

Housing Minister Roger Jaensch will on Friday meet with the Tasmanian Council of Social Service, Shelter Tasmania and Colony 47 to develop an urgent response to the expansion of homeless shelter capacity and services.

Delegates from Labor and the Greens have been invited to the summit.

Simon is a former homeless person who now has permanent accommodation in Hobart. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

There is a way to get off the streets

FORMER homeless Hobart man Simon probably would not have survived another winter, he says.

Following a relationship breakdown and drug abuse, the 40-year-old was homeless for about 18 months, mostly living in men’s shelters, until he recently secured a 12-month lease on a CBD unit with the help of Uniting Vic Tas.

“Not having anywhere to go gives you no hope — you feel like you haven’t been heard or treated equal,” he said.

“The reality of homelessness now is it can hit anyone, any time.

“If it wasn’t for places like Uniting, I wouldn’t be here now. I wouldn’t like to think where I’d be.

“I’m more of a here and now sort of person and I’d hate to think what might have been.”

Simon said the cold temperatures during winter in Hobart made homelessness even more unbearable.

“When you get flash flooding like we had last year — people sleep in those storm water drains — and those wind tunnels going down Campbell St, it’s a concrete jungle that’s cold to the bone,” he said.

Unemployed, but having put drug abuse behind him, Simon hopes to raise awareness through advocacy work.

“You can’t be helped if you don’t help yourself,” he said. “There’s definitely places people can go and regroup — Uniting and No Bucks [cafe] is just one, and there’s a big sense of community there.”

You can support Uniting’s winter appeal here.