In search of affordable housing people move away from their jobs, their communities and support networks. But the shift is also changing the way cities function
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It was Alice and her family’s sixth move in as many years that pushed them over the edge. They’d relocated from their home city of Sydney to the Central Coast and back, paid $700 a week for a Lilyfield rental complete with weeds – inside the house – then moved to a $900 a week house in Drummoyne, which their landlords promptly sold, making a $1m profit and leaving the family of four high and dry.
“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” the small business co-owner said. Exhausted, financially depleted and with no trust in landlords, she and her partner stored their belongings, bought a caravan and – with their now six and 17-year-old children and two dogs in tow – travelled for seven months.
