A group of squatters evicted from a home in Hamilton East last week say they are being supported by friends but are confronted each day by not knowing where they will sleep that night.
The squatters were ordered by police to leave a Hamilton East home they had been living in without consent of the owner for several months. A development application is under assessment to demolish the house and one next door, to replace them with car parks.
The first night after the eviction the five people and a pet dog crammed into two vans loaned to them by a friend, and have since bounced around where they can.
"We're relying on other people's hospitality," one of the squatters Elena said.
"We are so lucky compared to a lot of people in this situation in Newcastle. A lot of people don't have this support.
"It is scary not knowing where you're going to sleep each night.
"My heart is heavy when I wake up in the morning. It's back to daily anxiety."
Elena said she has been looking for a rental for about a year, and had previously slept in cars and swags.
"I've seen comments people have made saying 'why don't they just get a job'," she said.
"But when you don't have a reliable place to sleep each night, you're exerting your cognitive space towards that.
"It's hard finding employment and a stable income without a reliable place to stay."
Another member of the group, known as Fig, said housing instability made daily functions harder.
"[The eviction] was a pretty intense emotional experience," they said. "We haven't had a chance to process that.
"If you have a house and need a cry, you can just go to your room. If you're houseless you maybe find a public bathroom."
A third squatter, who did not want to be named, has been experiencing homelessness on and off for about five years.
"It's borderline impossible to secure a rental property in Newcastle without the assurance of work or money behind you," he said. "But I'm privileged enough to have community behind me."
Laws around squatting state it is illegal to enter into enclosed lands without the consent of the owner, occupier or person apparently in charge of those lands or to remain on those lands after being asked by the owner, occupier or person apparently in charge of those lands to leave.
Elena said she understood people had concerns about squatting, but hoped it served as a disincentive to keep properties vacant.
At the time of the 2021 Census, 7.7 per cent of all houses in Newcastle, or 5531 dwellings, were unoccupied.
"Houses are locked out of the market through developers, Airbnbs - structures that could be adequate housing," Elena said.
The state of the housing market
Hunter rental prices have reached record highs while the region's rental vacancy rate was 1.1 per cent in March.
The median rental price in the Hunter region has increased from $368 in January 2019 to $515 in April 2024.
The latest figures from Anglicare Australia's rental affordability snapshot found of 1749 rental listings across Newcastle, Hunter, Lake Macquarie, Central Coast and Mid Coast, 16 were affordable for a single person on minimum wage and none were affordable for someone on youth allowance.
Newcastle Anglican service agency, Samaritans said it was supporting an increasing number of people doing it tough - 3554 people reached out to a Samaritans emergency relief centre this financial year up to March, up 10 per cent on the same period last year.
"The housing crisis is the worst it's ever been," Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said.
"This is not hyperbole. It is Australia's new normal.
"People on Centrelink payments are being pushed out of housing altogether.
"A person on age or disability support pensions can afford less than 1 per cent of rentals. For a person out of work, it's 0 per cent - and that includes the highest rate of rent assistance.
"We found that the government spends eight times as much propping up private investors as it does on building housing itself. This approach is wrong, and it's supercharging rents and house prices.
"Instead of spending billions on tax breaks for investors, the government should be building the housing we need."
Gab McIntosh was the lone person arrested after defying a police move-on at last week's protest after the squatters eviction.
She said she felt it was important to take a stand.
"As a retired school principal, I'm appalled that young people must now struggle so hard to obtain a rental, let alone buy their own house and that so many youth are sleeping rough in cars, on friend's couches and are trapped in a poverty cycle," she said.
"I am a child of the 70's. I grew up with full employment, cheap rents and affordable housing. As a university student, I had no fees, there were plenty of jobs all with full holiday and sick pay and reasonable wages.
"A young person today lives under the constant strain and burden of trying to navigate the unruly, out-of-control expenses associated with just staying alive - rent, food and study."
