Hayden Patterson says he applied for more than 400 rentals before finally landing a place in a share house in Adelaide's inner-south – then his rent increased.
He said last year, before the price rise, he was already spending 80 per cent of his income on rent.
"Whereas just five years ago when I was in social housing, it was capped at 25 per cent," he said.
"So I literally have no extra money to go and do anything else."
But Mr Patterson said he was "not even contemplating" moving, given how difficult the rental market is.
"Prior to moving into this house I was actually homeless for 14 months," he said.
"I applied for 472 houses in my last year of being homeless."
Mr Patterson said he was initially told his lease would not be renewed this year, until a last minute change.
He said during that time, he attended 80 rental inspections and found "at least 30" people at each one.
"There's nothing more heartbreaking than seeing all that competition," he said.
Mr Patterson said being on income support, and owning pets, limited his options for rentals.
"I can't actually live by myself anymore, I have to live in a share house which, at nearly 50 years old, it's something I never thought I'd contemplate doing again," he said.
People on certain welfare payments will receive a 3.7 per cent increase next week, as part of a biannual adjustment to reflect inflation.
For Mr Patterson, the rising cost of living pressures has his income stretched thin.
"I sit there and count down to my next pay day and make things stretch as long as they go," he said.
"But just one unforeseen thing [can have an impact] — like my payment was two days late this week, which meant I then had to drag it out and not shop for another two days and basically live off air."
Mr Patterson is not alone, according to the South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS).
Last year, median rents in Adelaide jumped by about 13 per cent, compared to the nation average of about a 10 per cent rise.
SACOSS chief executive Ross Womersley said median rent rises in Adelaide were "vastly bigger" than any increase in costs for landlords associated with interest rate rises.
"We think in that context there's a very good argument for the government to be thinking carefully about addressing this by introducing rent caps," he said.
"We think there is no excuse for rent prices to be increasing at this rate."
He also called for the government to use their current review of the Residential Tenancies Act to ensure rental properties have "basic standards of energy efficiency".
"So people living in those properties aren't having to spend excessive amounts of their income on paying for energy costs in order to keep themselves warm or cool," he said.
He also wants the government to introduce ways to encourage longer-term rentals past 12 months, to provide more security for tenants.
"Of course you'd have to be living under a rock not to know South Australia is experiencing a rental affordability crisis," he said.
A new report by SACOSS has identified the 10 metropolitan electorates with the biggest rental affordability challenges.
Adelaide tops the list, followed by Elizabeth, Cheltenham and Hartley.
Eight of those top 10 are Labor-held seats, and SACOSS wants those government MPs to do more to fix the problem.
"We think that's a very good reason for all of those people to be making sure that they are championing the cause of people who are struggling with rental affordability in South Australia today," Mr Womersely said.
Labor minister Andrea Michaels, whose electorate of Enfield ranked fifth on the list, acknowledged there was a housing crisis across the country.
"It is a significant problem," she said.
"We're investing money into addressing that [housing] supply issue with public housing as well as being able to release land supply," she said.
"There's a long-term strategy to deal with it but it is particularly difficult at the moment, I acknowledge that."
Ms Michaels pointed to the government's ongoing review of the Residential Tenancies Act, and said the government was working through 5,000 submissions.
Last month, the state government announced planned reforms to improve rental affordability such as banning rent bidding, making residential tenancy bonds more affordable, and broadening the eligibility criteria of its private rental assistance program.
When asked about the idea of rental price caps, she said house supply was critical to the affordability issue and that was one of the "downsides" of a cap.
"One of the things we don't want to do in our policy settings is disincentivise landlords from having residential properties rented out," she said.
