This is the makeshift dwelling a young mother-to-be and her boyfriend have been given to live in until October when her baby is due.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday night from the Hobart Showground in Tasmania, Rachel explained the couple have taken refuge in a small office used by cattle judges during the annual fair.
The makeshift abode isn’t equipped with a toilet and doesn’t have a sink or amenities.
The mother-to-be, 20, and her boyfriend moved into the demountable showground building after the tent they were living in flooded
Rachel, 20, lives with her boyfriend Harley McKenzie (pictured) at Hobart Showground
Images show the ‘make-do’ dwelling which has no bathroom or kitchen
‘We have to go outside to another building for a bathroom and shower.
‘We’ve got sort of a kitchen where we have stuff on the table, but there’s no proper sink, no proper kitchen we’ve just made one – for water we have cartons of water we can use.’
The 20-year-old and her boyfriend Harley McKenzie say they have been unable to find a property of their own because they don’t have any rental history despite eagerly hunting for a residence.
They have moved into the temporary home until October if they need it, but Rachel is desperately hoping that something more permanent comes up before she gives birth the same month.
Rachel is due to have a baby in October but fears she’ll lose it if she lives in a tent
The couple have repeatedly applied for public housing but have had no luck
She is extremely worried about their future, and agonizes about the baby’s health if they have to go back to a tent.
‘If I don’t find anywhere I might be in a tent with a newborn baby, and when all the weather and the winds come, I’m afraid that the baby get scared and have a heart attack, with all the noise and the wind and the tent crashing down on it.’
As the prospect of becoming parents quickly dawns upon them, Rachel wants property owners to give her a chance.
‘I want a landlord to say ”yes” – they can build so many houses but that’s not the problem, the problem is that the landlord needs to say yes to young people.’
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Rachel explained the couple have taken refuge in the small office used by cattle judges during the annual fair
They have moved into the temporary home until October if they need it, but Rachel is desperately hoping that something more permanent comes up before she gives birth the same month (pictured is her sonogram)
She says the two are ‘willing to give anything a go’ and they are ‘independent’, as they endeavour to find a place they can raise their child in.
Harley said he and Rachel were forced to live at the showground while they apply for public housing.
He told Daily Mail Australia: ‘There just has been no luck it makes me real upset when the real estate agents get back to me and tell us we didn’t get the house we applied for.’
The couple have repeatedly applied for public housing but have had no luck
Rachel is preparing to raise her child in a tent at Hobart Showground (pictured) in Tasmania because she can’t afford to rent a house
Rachel told the Daily Mail: ‘With the wind like this I’m not sure if he will survive’
Rachel’s birth father helps with transport and is willing to take the couple to house viewings while her mother is ready to help them move into a home, and store food while they are without a freezer.
The mother-to-be also has a support worker who is looking for houses and approaching land agents for tenancy opportunities.
She attends school two days a week and has been homeless for two and half years since living with family.
Her boyfriend Harley goes to school four days a week, and the pair spend the remainder of their time ‘looking for jobs and houses’.
They had been living in a tent filled with bags and boxes of their possessions until the manager of the showground recently put them up in the shed.
The 20-year-old, named only as Rachel, lives with her boyfriend Harley McKenzie (pictured)
Scott Gadd, who runs the showground which accommodates people from $20 a night, told Daily Mail Australia: ‘I’ve noticed a large increase in the number of people coming to us for shelter’ (Pictured: Hobart showground)
Dr Kathleen Flanagan from the University of Tasmania puts this down to more people moving back to Tasmania from the mainland and others buying investment properties there.
Scott Gadd, who runs the showground which accommodates people from $20 a night, told Daily Mail Australia: ‘I’ve noticed a large increase in the number of people coming to us for shelter.
‘Last year I had one homeless unit and now I have 16 – it’s been quite shocking.
‘I’ve also noticed a change in the demographic – I’ve got good families here where the parents work but they’ve been squeezed out of the rental market.
‘One of the families has six children. They were living in two tents for two months before I could move them into a house.
‘I put this down to a lack of investment in public housing stock and a lack of rentals,’ Mr Gadd said.