University lecturer Caitlin Beresford-Ord living in caravan outside parents house amid cost-of-living crisis

A university lecturer on the brink of homelessness has warned Labor votes are on the line, as big-spending election promises fail to dull the impact of cost-of-living pressures. “We should be expecting better. We rent and we vote,” said East Victoria Park mother Caitlin Beresford-Ord, who has been forced to put a camper trailer in her elderly parents’ driveway to keep her family of three together. Her 20-year-old son is sleeping in the “perishingly hot” caravan, her 17-year-old daughter is in her parents’ spare bedroom and Ms Beresford-Ord is squeezed into their study. A $190 weekly rent hike forced her family and her two kids out of the East Victoria Park home they had lived in for seven years. “I could barely breathe, I was so shocked,” the 53-year-old teaching artist and university drama lecturer said. “I always promised my kids, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to buy a house but we live in a good country and I work really hard, I often work seven days a week, we will always be able to afford a rental. “To realise that that was no longer the case was a bitter pill to swallow. It was devastating. There’s guilt, there’s shame, there’s humiliation.” Ms Beresford-Ord said she held on as long as she could but her “meagre” savings could not survive the rent hike and she couldn’t find any affordable listings. “I tightened my belt, I would be living on beans so that my kids could have a full meal,” she said. “People would say ‘oh give up your daily coffee’, what are you talking about I don’t have that, this is not where my money goes. I was working two jobs at the time and I just literally did not have the hours in the day. “I am lucky, I came from a really good home and had all the benefits of a terrific education. But, I hustle, and now that is not enough to stop you achieving third-tier homelessness. This is not my home.” Labor has not ruled out promising more cost-of-living relief during the final two weeks of the State election campaign. But with early voting set to start on Monday, voters in Premier Roger Cook’s Kwinana electorate told The West Australian the $1.1 billion worth of measures paid out so far has barely made a dent in their bills. Kim Heathfield described it as “caveman times” due to having to choose between food and shelter. “We all have to eat, we can’t be handing out our home loan money just to eat,” she said. Grandparent and carer Sharon Playle said previous State Government assistance wasn’t enough. “Every day I go to the shop and I used to spend maybe $40 or $50, now this just costs me like $80,” she said. “I think they’re helping with the electricity subsidy and things like that but, for example, renting there’s really not much they can do about that. “That’s a chunk that would probably be a good 80 per cent of our wage that is our rent so that makes it really hard, there’s not much leftover.” Perth’s official rental vacancy rate reached two per cent in January, but advocates believe a surge in shared housing has distorted the figure. New analysis by Shelter WA found that out of 3408 rentals available across WA in February, only 63 homes in the Perth region were listed for less than $400 per week and only 16 of them were for the whole house or apartment — 75 per cent were advertising single rooms. “Our rental market is in pain,” Shelter WA CEO Kath Snell said. “This is not what we should be seeing in a state like WA, it’s simply not okay . . . With two weeks to go before the election, we’re still hoping to see bold initiatives that really tackle the rental crisis head-on.” The Premier repeated cost-of-living relief was his “No.1 priority” on Friday, and spruiked power bill credits, cheaper public transport and regional airfares. “We’re not stopping there,” he said. “WA Labor will deliver the suburban flat fare, saving regular commuters hundreds of dollars each year and we’ll roll out another WA student assistance payment. “We’re committed to rolling out free kindy . . . we’ll slash stamp duty for first homebuyers. . . only WA Labor has the experience to tackle the cost-of-living pressures and do what’s right for WA.” On Friday, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers urged landlords to pass on any savings from this week’s official rate cut, after Reserve Bank Governor Michelle Bullock told a parliamentary hearing that renters have “really been hurt very hard” as a result of “massive” inflation. Circle Green Community Legal lawyer Alice Pennycott said more renters are stuck with few options to choose between and forced to accept accommodation that is below standard or face no-grounds evictions that have been banned in Queensland and Tasmania. “It is disheartening that we still have seen no commitment to meaningful rent reform,” Ms Pennycott said. “All West Australians are feeling the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis, but renters are especially impacted with ever-increasing rents and still no housing security or stability.” Labor’s focus on the campaign trail this week was housing supply, with promises to expand Keystart, underwrite ‘build to rent’ developments and boost apprentice numbers welcomed by industry leaders. But Housing Industry Association executive director Michael McGowan said it will not be a quick fix for families who are struggling to afford housing now. “We’ve seen the volume of housing starts and completions double over the last four or five years,” he said. “We do need more time to be able to lift the volume of supply. There’s no quick fix or silver bullet. “Without that supply, we’ll continue to see pressure on the rental market, which will cause more cost of living challenges..” Enough to change votes? WA will decide on March 8.