A mother who has been forced to live in her mini-van for five months after failing to keep up with her rent has illustrated Australia’s deepening housing crisis.
Mandy Weber, 51, has been living with her dog Diesel in her mini-van since February after failing to make payments on her rental in Geelong, south west of Melbourne.
The former crossing guard travels around the area looking for places to park for the night but has had some terrifying encounters.
‘You can’t sort of get too comfortable laying down in the back… because people will approach your car, they will bang on the window. It scares the hell out of me,’ she told the ABC.
Ms Weber made headlines more than two years ago after sharing her concerns she would be forced into homelessness because of the Covid pandemic.
She managed to keep a roof over her family’s head due to increased government support, but has since been unable to cope with cost-of-living pressures.
Mandy Weber (pictured), 51, has been living in her mini-van since February after failing to make payments on her rented house in Geelong, south west of Melbourne
She described the torment of having to move her van everyday as she looked for a place to park so she could sleep for the night.
‘You get the odd aggressive person who says, you know, “Eff off, what are you doing, go get a job ya loser”,’ she said.
‘It’s very scary. I’ve had people bashing on my windows and middle of the night, middle of the morning telling me to move.’
The mother-of-two, who had to give up work due to a heart condition, said she has now started parking in more isolated spots because of the reaction of residents in urban areas.
‘At first, I thought it’d be safer to park in streets, you know, where people are around. But it’s not really safer because they don’t want you in the area,’ she said.
Ms Weber receives Disability Support Pension which pays her just over $1,000 a fortnight.
But that is quickly eaten up by unpaid bills at her old property, several road fines and tolls and $175 a fortnight for a storage locker for her possessions.
Once those payments have been taken, she has around $550 to last two weeks.
Her one indulgence is $75 for a Geelong Cats membership, who she follow avidly.
Ms Weber called for more affordable housing.
‘It’s not a whinge. The government just needs to step up and let people live out of poverty and have a normal life,’ she said.
‘I’m not asking for much. I’m not asking for a mansion.
‘I’m speaking for all the other homeless people that I know of. We just need affordable accommodations.’
The former crossing guard travels around the area looking for places to park for the night but has had some terrifying encounters (pictured, Ms Weber’s dog Diesel)
Despite her situation, Ms Weber is grateful for what she has.
‘People have actually said to me that this (her van) is the cream of the crop for living homeless,’ she said.
‘I’m just lucky enough that I have a car to sleep in. I don’t have to sleep it rough on the street.’
Ms Weber is far from alone with around 4,500 people who accessed homelessness services sleeping in their vehicle in the last financial year, according to figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Australia’s capital city rental vacancy rate is at an ultra tight 1.2 per cent, leading to a 20.7 per cent increase in rents during the past year, SQM Research data showed.
The number of new properties being built has unexpectedly crashed in every state or territory except one.
The first quarter of 2023 was the weakest for building approvals since 2012 across the nation, a result many experts didn’t see coming.
In NSW total building approvals for March plummeted by 34.1 per cent compared to a year ago, while in Victoria they tumbled 26.6 per cent.
Ms Weber has previously opened up on the everyday struggles of ordinary Aussies.
Her living arrangement have worsened over the last few years with the mother-of-tow saying she feared going homeless in 2020.
She said she had managed to support herself and her family better thanks to the increase to JobSeeker during the Covid pandemic.
Ms Weber managed to keep a roof over her family’s head and even afford a new fridge.
‘It means the world to us. It gives us the dignity to be able to cover the bills that we need,’ she said.
‘It removes the embarrassment of grocery shopping and having to put items back because you don’t have enough money.’
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