unbelievable....the most liveable city in the world and look at this.....and you thought you had worries re stock market losses here is part of the story or use the link
Diddly squat October 9, 2008 Page 1 of 4 | Single Page View Rising rents and a housing shortage are forcing many local students to take desperate measures just to find a place to sleep. Annie Lawson reports.
AFTER months of sleeping in various lounge rooms, Lorena Solin felt she had tested the limits of her friends' goodwill. Homeless and desperate for a place to live, the Melbourne University arts/science student moved into a garage behind a student share-house in Thornbury earlier this year.
Conditions were not ideal - the acoustics weren't great, the evenings were icy, it was difficult to get a decent night's sleep and she shared with a male garage-mate. But at a time when more tertiary students than ever are forced to take drastic measures to find a place to live - whether it be squatting or staying in parents' homes or in a hotel - it wasn't a bad option.
Soon after Solin, 21, moved in, a strong gust of wind peeled a strip of tin from the garage roof, leaving a hole just big enough for the rain to soak all her possessions.
"It rained inside all the time, so it was like living outside. It was not sustainable living there - it was hard to study and I felt really unsettled. But I was lucky because at least I had a place to stay."
For students locked out of the increasingly unaffordable rental market, homelessness can mean months of couch-surfing or "hot-bedding" - crashing at friends' houses until somewhere to live permanently is found.
In fact, many are victims of a chronic under-supply of share-house accommodation and apartments in inner-city Melbourne.
Median rents have risen 13% in the 12 months to March this year, according to State Government Office of Housing data, leaving students in a state of "housing stress". Adrian Burrage, manager of Melbourne University's student housing services, says it is common for rent to chew up more than 40% of income, given someone surviving on the maximum independent youth allowance earns just $426.84 a fortnight. Continued...
