Mum’s heartbreak at endless rental battle, with 48 rejections in four months

A single mother of three fears she is being discriminated against by landlords as she battles to find a rental property so they can leave their tiny one-room cabin at a caravan park.

A MOTHER of three young children has applied for 48 homes in four months – and 48 times her heart has been broken.

Paige Robertson-Wood is worried she and the children, aged 10, 8 and 2, will spend a second Christmas without a place to call home.

“It’s my children I worry about,” she said.

“I think landlords see I’m a single parent with three children and on Centrelink and they think we will destroy their house.

“They discriminate against single parents and I’ve been told I should get a babysitter and turn up without the kids, but that is very hard.

“I have an impeccable rental history with Housing Tasmania and rented for nine-and-a-half years, but there is just nothing out there for us.”

Ms Robertson-Wood has looked at houses from Geeveston to New Norfolk, Mangalore and Primrose Sands.

At her last private rental inspection on Thursday she said there were about 40 people queued up to look at the house, which would have cost $360 a week.

Single mother Paige Robertson-Wood has made nearly 50 rental applications in four months without success. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Ms Robertson-Wood said she was forced to leave her government rental on advice from child protection.

“I’ve been in three women’s shelters and transitional housing for the maximum time possible,” she said.

The family is now squashed into a tiny one-room cabin at a caravan park with only a bar fridge and no room for the children’s toys. The rent is $380 a week.

“I’m so worried we will spend another Christmas without our own home.

“The cabin is very small and there’s nowhere to even put up a Christmas tree, and how embarrassing it must be for my eight- and 10-year-old to tell their friends they live in a cabin and can’t have visitors.

“They have given up that we will ever get a house but I won’t give up trying.

“If it was just me, I could float around and stay with friends on their couch, but I can’t do that with the children.”

Housing Minister Michael Ferguson said his office had been working with Ms Robertson-Wood to ensure she had support.

“We continue to work to identify appropriate long-term accommodation for her and her family,” he said.

System failing families in need

THERE is a chronic shortage of safe, appropriate and affordable housing for survivors of domestic violence, the Tenants Union and independent MP Kristie Johnston say.

Ms Johnston said it was unacceptable women escaping domestic violence “ended up stuck in a failing housing system” and some women stayed in abusive relationships to keep a roof over their heads.

“They are shunted around shelters and short-term emergency accommodation only to find that they are stuck on a very long waiting list for social housing,” she said.

“If they try the private rental market then they face discrimination, particularly if they have children.

“The slow pace in which the state government is rolling out new housing stock, coupled with an incredibly hot private rental market, means that women and children are virtually forced to stay in relationships just so they have a roof over their head.”

Independent member for Clark Kristie Johnston with Paige Robertson-Wood. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Tenants’ Union principal solicitor Ben Bartl said Right to Information data showed there had been an 8 per cent increase over the past three years in the number of survivors of family violence who were homeless when they asked for assistance with housing.

“Most significantly, survivors of family violence who remain homeless after requesting assistance has risen from one-third (34 per cent) to almost half (49 per cent),’’ he said.

“And, the number of homeless survivors who are subsequently successfully housed in either a social housing property or a private rental has dropped by 37 per cent.”

Mr Bartl said finding a rental property anywhere in Tasmania was a “horror show”.

“People are desperate, putting in offers sight unseen, offering to pay higher rents and even agreeing to pay rent for up to 12 months in advance when the law states that owners can only be paid one month in advance,” he said.

“Unfortunately, survivors of family violence often have a harder time finding a rental property ... at the same time, survivors are often looking for rental properties at short notice, with children and with only one income to pay the rent.

“There is a chronic shortage of safe, appropriate and affordable housing for survivors of family and domestic violence.”

Tenants’ Union principal solicitor Ben Bartl. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

Housing Minister Michael Ferguson said he recognised the barriers and challenges that women “may experience in relation to safety, housing, employment and health and wellbeing”.

“We have acted and continue to act to meet demand, with 15 homeless shelters currently available to women, with or without children,” he said.

“These will be expanded to provide an additional 23 new units of homeless accommodation for women by 30 June 2023.

“Over the past 18 months alone, we have secured seven extra family-sized units and delivered 10 two-bedroom units through Hobart Women’s Shelter and a further eight units with Catholic Care.”

Ms Johnston it was “simply not good enough” to say there were more homes coming on line in the next few years.

“These families need a roof over their heads and security now,” she said.