‘It just doesn’t work’: renting in northern NSW is so impossible we’ve had to go off-grid

Months before thousands of people were left homeless because of unprecedented flooding, rental prices in New South Wales's northern rivers were surging, largely driven by a pandemic-induced influx of families and young professionals from Sydney and Melbourne.

Anna Glanzen, 40, lives in Mullumbimby.

I've been living in this area for six-and-a-half years; I'm originally from Sweden and came to Australia 20 years ago. I'm a bush school mentor for kids and for many years I ran my own business. I earned enough to get by and loved it.

I've since chosen to homeschool my eight-year-old son and work one day a week in Brunswick Heads. We have our close community of friends and other homeschoolers nearby and my son's father lives within an hour's drive.

Until four weeks ago, we were living on a lemon myrtle farm near Lismore. We were given seven weeks' notice to leave because the owners decided to sell - and then the floods hit, making finding a home near impossible. Before that, we were in a granny flat in Pearces Creek, where we were for 18 months. They didn't want to rent any more due to fears of Covid.

I'm so sad for everyone who lost everything they own in the floods. I have been in friends' homes cleaning up the aftermath with them; I've seen the devastation. My son and I didn't lose our stuff - the water stopped below our hill - but it makes me feel guilty, trying to find a home when others have nothing. Our belongings are now in storage, but others have to start completely over. My heart aches knowing this. There's so much grief and so many tears have been shed.

Every time we move into a new house, my son asks, "Do we get to stay in this forever, or is this just for a short time?" And I have to say, "I just don't know."

We need something of our own. And we have a cat, so pets need to be allowed - I promised my son that we would never leave our cat with someone else. My budget, $350 a week, is really pushing it, but could work if I live close to Brunswick and save on petrol.

I have been looking for a home for more than six months. It feels like there are a lot of people who have been escaping the towns and who are trying to move up here. All the prices for those who are already established here have gone up.

People would rather take a tenant with lots of money than a single parent. So many mums and dads I know have nowhere to go - how can you take $450-500 out of your budget for rent if your income [from Centrelink support] is $1,000 a fortnight? And then pay for food and petrol? It just doesn't work.

People are getting ridiculous about what they are renting out. My budget's always been tight but what I can afford has definitely changed. In the last couple of years it's gone from being possible to impossible. You turn up to viewings and there are 50 people there. You wait your turn to see a tiny place that is dark and smelly. The demand is such that landlords can get away with it.

The flood means there are no rentals around. Even friends with bigger budgets can't find anything and prices have actually gone up since the floods.

I saw a three-bedroom home in Lismore advertised for $1,300 a week. I looked at a granny flat in South Golden Beach that was $400 a week for a tiny little place with an unplumbed kitchen. The bathroom sink doubled as the kitchen sink.

In Lismore, one landlord wanted $360 a week for a dark granny flat at the back of a block, without a yard. It smelled like rotten fish. How bad was it when it hadn't been spruced up for a viewing? And it still had a queue of people standing out the front. Sadly, I think it was completely flooded.

There was a great place in South Golden, but it was $450 and I couldn't bring a cat. It had a mini kitchen and it was fresh, with a little patio out the front and one bedroom. There was also a great little container home on shared land in Wooyung for $350, but, same again - I couldn't bring a cat.

Through friends, I have found a small plot of land to rent in Mullumbimby and have been gifted a camper trailer for six months. A very kind property owner is charging me a minimal amount each week.

There's no electricity and no water, so we'll be living off-grid. I am building an outdoor shower and toilet and the camper is luckily quite big, with a kitchen and a bedroom. There's even space for a sofa, which is amazing because my son loves curling up and reading a book.

I'm so grateful and relieved. This has potential. My plan is to save and build my own tiny home on wheels, so that we can drive away from any more floods. It's OK to rough it for a while if it means I am building towards something that is ours. That's the dream: knowing that our home can't be taken away from us.

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