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A Sydney mother says she had no option but to move her family into a "stinking-hot" caravan after being forced to leave the rental home she had lived in for 16 years.
Linda Thompson and her two daughters were told they had to move out of the house in Bradbury in the midst of an ongoing dispute with the landlord and real estate just before Christmas.
With no savings and little time to find a new place, they were caught in the grips of Sydney's rental crisis and weighed up staying in a women's shelter.
"We're now sitting in a stinking-hot caravan out the front of my older daughter's house," Ms Thompson said.
Ms Thompson said she and her partner have made dozens of applications for homes in the city's south-west, but believes they're being "priced out" by people who can afford to pay above asking prices.
"We're just getting knocked back for everything."
She's currently unable to work, but says her partner is well paid enough to be competitive in the market.
For now, the couple and Ms Thompson's two teenage daughters are waking up each morning covered in mosquito bites in the small caravan parked in Airds.
There are only two beds, while their makeshift wardrobe, kitchen, laundry and living room are all wedged into the tent area outside.
There's no fridge, meaning they have to buy ice twice a day, and Ms Thompson is also forking out $250 per week for a storage unit to hold furniture and other possessions.
Not wanting to overstay their welcome at her daughter's rental, they will move into a caravan park but have only been approved to stay there for a week — leaving their next stop uncertain.
"I'm 50 this year; we shouldn't be worried about this kind of crap at this age," she said.
"It's all the little things that add up."
CoreLogic data from December shows the vacancy rate for Sydney rentals sits at 1.6 per cent, tightening from 3.1 per cent 12 months ago.
In the same period the median Sydney rental price has jumped 11.4 per cent, rising to $679.
Leo Patterson Ross, chief executive of the Tenants' Union of NSW, said rising rents had a domino effect on different communities across Sydney.
People who cannot afford inner-city areas have to move outwards, with their "desperation" leveraged to ask for higher prices in the suburbs.
"That's one of the striking features at the moment, is that it's all gone wrong everywhere all at once."
Mr Patterson Ross said tenants reported being told "explicitly" they had been the subject of no-grounds evictions so the landlords could up the rent.
"There tends to be this pressure on people who are being displaced by the intense demand," he said.
The Productivity Commission's latest report on government services, released this week, found 43.9 per cent of low-income households in Australia are experiencing rental stress.
Mission Australia's Marion Bennett said the scarce availability of affordable homes was pushing people toward homelessness.
"Australia's situation is dire because there aren't enough accommodation options for everyone who needs it," she said.
"Securing an affordable rental has become a near-impossible feat, right across the country."
Ms Bennett said greater investment in social and affordable housing was needed to address the current shortfall and cut years-long waiting lists.
"We also need to make sure that we have a system in place that prevents homelessness from occurring in the first place, and works swiftly to help people if they do become homeless."
Ms Thompson said she was worried about public housing options not keeping pace with the situation on the ground in places like Campbelltown.
She's become aware of other locals like her who've found themselves with nowhere to go.
"There's just so many of us," she said.
"And so many people who are going to come after us and become homeless."