A real estate agent has turned heads after claiming bad tenants are partly to blame for increasing the rates of homelessness.
Ashleigh Goodchild, who is a director at Perth-based company Soco Realty, made the shock claim as Australia is crippled by a housing crisis.
Long queues have become a common sight at rental inspections with residents forced into a fierce bidding war as they compete for vacant rooms.
Families are among the growing number of Australians that have been forced to take drastic measures and live out of caravans, tents or even their cars.
Mission Australia recently claimed over 122,000 Australians experience homelessness on any given night and that demand for its housing help services has spiked 26 per cent since 2020.
Prospective tenants in Perth are sharing images and videos of long queues just to inspect the city’s few vacant properties as one agent took to social media to share ‘the other side’ of the crisis
Ms Goodchild, whose company bio boasts she ‘worked her way from the reception desk to business ownership’, said there is another side to the homelessness picture that the media is missing.
‘I know that no-one deserves homelessness, I get that, but there’s a big fact that the media is missing that is contributing to these people being homeless,’ she said in a TikTok video.
‘And it is that they have done the wrong thing by landlords.
‘The pool of tenants that are applying for properties at the moment in the Perth residential market are way below standard.
‘We’re talking tenants that have done the wrong thing. They have trashed properties, they lie on their application, they don’t pay rent and these are the people that are more at risk of being homeless.’
Ms Goodchild posted the clip to TikTok after reading an article about homelessness.
‘This fired me up this morning,’ the video title read.
Perth’s rental market is among the tightest in the country, with prospective tenants taking to social media to share images and videos of queues with up to 100 people waiting to inspect the city’s few vacant properties.
Last month Perth’s rental vacancy rate – the percentage of all rental properties that are vacant or unoccupied – was at 0.5 per cent.
Nationally the rate is just 1.3 per cent. The lower the rate, the more difficult it is to find a home.
Perth agent Ashleigh Goodchild (pictured) sensationally claimed dishonesty and messiness a major reason why some people are at risk of homelessness
A mother-of-five was recently under the spotlight after revealing she had been forced to live with her family in a tent.
Ms Goodchild’s opinions received a mixed response, though many people working in real estate agreed with her.
‘OMG this! I work as a leasing agent and this is exactly what I’m dealing with in day in and day out!’ one said.
However two mums did not and firmly disagreed with Ms Goodchild’s claims bad tenants were partly to blame.
‘You’re wrong,’ a mother of six children said.
‘There are so many dual income families, with A+ rental record [who] cannot get homes.’
Another Queensland woman, who is currently looking for a home, chimed into the debate.
‘Sorry but I have always paid rent on time never trashed a house yet good references I have a dog and 3 adults and 3 kids and we still miss out,’ she said.
Ms Goodchild responded if the woman was in Perth and could provide a rental ledger ‘and a copy of your last inspection report’ she would have found her a property.
Last week Ms Goodchild earned praise for posting her own tearful reaction after evicting a woman whose home had been reclaimed by its owner.
‘That was one of the hardest things that I think that I’ve ever had to do,’ she said.
‘I left her knowing that I done the right thing by her, emotionally as what I could,’ Ms Goodchild added, describing the situation as a ‘little speed bump’ in the tenant’s life.
A mother-of-five was recently under the spotlight after revealing she had been forced to live with her family in a tent
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