A BALLARAT family has had to resort to living in a car after being turned down for rental properties.
It’s a position no one wants to find themselves in this close to Christmas, but sometimes, as Billie Murphy, 27, has discovered, it’s out of your control.
“We’ve been looking for jobs for the last two years, so we’ve been paying rent with our Centrelink payments,” she said.
“We have plenty of qualifications but we can’t find anyone who will hire us.
“My father got really sick, so I was travelling a lot to Melbourne to see him before he died.
“All our money was used on petrol and as a result we got two weeks behind on rent. Then we were issued a notice to vacate our property.”
The family was forced to live in a Holden Commodore for three days before taking to social media to ask for somewhere to live.
“It’s been pretty horrible. There isn’t much room in a Commodore,” Ms Murphy said.
“We’ve found it hard to get together the money for bond because we’re on Centrelink payments.
“I’ve rung up agents but they said there are better applicants than us. I believe it’s because we’re on Centrelink payments.
“So we went on Facebook, hoping we could find a private rental.”
As a result, the young family was given a place to live for two weeks, but is still in need of something permanent.
“We’ve had quite a few responses from the Ballarat area. Hopefully, by the end of the week, we have something to move into,” Ms Murphy said
“We’re really concerned because we are trying to save money for Christmas presents for the children and for bond. It’s sad for the children. It doesn’t look like we will have a Christmas.”
With a two-year-old child and her partner’s 15-year-old son living with the couple, Ms Murphy said it was never a situation she wanted the children to have to go through.
“We always pictured ourselves living in a house,” she said.
“I’m extremely stressed.”
alicia.thomas@fairfaxmedia.com.au
