NSW students sleeping in cars amid critical rental, accommodation shortage

Maddison Murray has two weeks to find a home before starting university for the first time. (Supplied: Maddison Murray)

For the past couple of weeks Maddison Murray has been sleeping in her car. 

The newly enrolled 20-year-old student has moved from Adelaide to study at the University of Wollongong and has just two weeks to find a home before the semester begins.

"I've been searching since mid-December, and it's been quite overwhelming," she said.

Before sleeping in her car, Ms Murray was couch-surfing across the south coast of New South Wales and staying in hostels.

More recently, the local hostel has reached capacity with international students booking beds.

"It's been super depleting for the past few weeks, where it was not only my wellbeing but my ability to live there," she said.

Almost 50 per cent of homeless people in NSW have been denied accommodation assistance. (ABC News)

Ms Murray said the stress of moving and finding a place to live had taken a huge toll on her mental health.

"When you are trying to settle and begin in a new state and start work, you need stability or else it's too hectic," she said.

Ms Murray said she had applied for numerous advertised rentals since late last year but had not received many responses.

Ms Murray isn't alone.

23-year-old University of Wollongong student Joel Spittles has struggled to secure a lease for the past two years.

"Currently I'm renting a room of an elderly couple because I simply didn't have any other choice besides being homeless," Mr Spittles said.

Joel Spittles, aged 23, feels the odds are stacked against single people like himself. (Supplied: Joel Spittles)

Mr Spittles said he had been "bedhopping" from place to place rather than having his own name on a lease.

"In the last year I lived in four different houses," he said.

'The odds are stacked against you'

According to data from the Productivity Commission's annual report on government services, 48.2 per cent of people in New South Wales who asked for accommodation assistance from specialist homelessness services in the 2020-2021 financial year were turned down.

"I absolutely hate the rental market because it sort of just feels like the odds are a bit stacked against you all the time," Mr Spittles said.

"You feel scared to ask questions about rentals as well, and are just happy to maybe get a response every now and then."

Mr Spittles said there needed to be a shift in the types of properties on offer for young people.

"The houses don't really cater to a person like myself who is a single person trying to get into the rental market," he said.