It's lucky Siobhan Joseph likes the cold, because she can't afford to turn on her heater.
The 57-year-old is paying more than 80 per cent of her JobSeeker benefit on rent for her Marrickville home in Sydney's inner-west.
Ms Joseph gets about $770 per fortnight from JobSeeker and other support payments, and spends about $600 of that on rent.
"So I have about $174 left over for everything else," she said.
Ms Joseph has had to learn how survive on a single income since the death of her husband in 2020, and the wider battle began against the rising cost of living.
She arranged to be placed on a special plan with her electricity supplier, uses a nearby food charity and, when needed, borrows money from friends.
She's also wearing extra layers in winter to avoid switching on her heating.
"Even though it sounds kind of contradictory, I am kind of overweight at the moment, which is actually partly due to my not-terribly-good diet, because you tend to stock up on lots of carbs – pasta and rice and stuff like that."
Ms Joseph has been on the waiting list for social housing for two-and-a-half years and says she is worried she could end up homeless.
"Fingers crossed things will get a bit easier."
Rent and inflation rising, but number of affordable homes shrinking
Secure rentals advocate, the Renters and Housing Union (RAHU), published a report in February with data up to October 2021, before inflation peaked.
The "Roofs For Ransom" report found 91 per cent of the union's clients were experiencing rental stress, which the Australian Bureau of Statistics classified as spending more than 30 per cent of household income on rent.
RAHU secretary Eirene Tsolidis Noyce said union data indicated the average monthly rent had risen $250 this year, with one client slugged a 95 per cent increase.
Renters are facing a triple-whammy of forces — as rents are rising, so is the cost of basic living essentials, and at the same time, the number of affordable homes is shrinking.
The RAHU secretary said many people seeking help from the union reported skipping meals, no longer being able to afford their medication and missing utility bill payments.
"Particularly over winter, it's extremely concerning because we know that those houses are usually not particularly well insulated, there are common issues with black mould and hazardous conditions and yet they're still not putting the heater on to save the cost of bills," she said.
The union argues many renters can not just simply move elsewhere because of the lack of affordable properties in both cities and regional areas.
"Real estate agents will say that there's a huge amount of vacancies, but the issue isn't necessarily just the amount of vacancies. It's with the price of the rents themselves," she said.
"We know over 100,000 homes are lying vacant in Victoria alone.
The union wants the state, territory and federal governments to adopt enforceable regulations on what constitutes excessive rental charges, a cap on rent increases and for rent to be tied to the minimum wage.
Debt a growing issue
Financial counsellors say they're receiving an increasing number of calls from people struggling with rent arrears and fearing how they will make next month's payment.
The National Debt Helpline said it always stressed to its clients that rent and food must take priority over all other expenses.
"There are rights for hardship that you can access to pay your debts and your utility bills that aren't afforded to rental payments," said counsellor Kirsty Robson.
Ms Robson said the rising cost of living was also causing an increase in calls to the National Debt Helpline.
She said financial stress could harm a person's physical health.
"The first thing to go is always consistent meals," she said.
"People will skip meals before they start paying certain debts and that comes down to the fear around seeking help or admitting you're in hardship or even knowing that you are entitled to support."
But she said financial worries could also have implications for mental health.
"It's quite a difficult thing to talk to, so people don't necessarily reach out to the same support networks that they would if something else was going wrong, but it has immediate and quite long term impacts on physical and mental health," she said.
"And it's quite isolating as well."
'I just stay at home because there is nothing left over'
Adelaide pensioner Elaine, who is not using her real name due to privacy concerns, can attest to that isolation.
The 67-year-old leads a very quiet live in her outer suburban unit, and it's not by choice.
She is paying more than half of her pension in rent and says the rising cost of living leaves her with almost no money to enjoy life or to save for future expenses.
"I just stay at home because there is nothing left over," she said.
"We had that $20 increase [to the single person's pension] and then what happened? Petrol went up and the price of food went up."
Elaine said she was dreading an increase to her rent when her lease ends in August so accepted an offer of social housing, sight unseen.
It is half the rent she currently pays and she said the savings will allow her "to have a life".
But first, she will save up for a screen door for the unit.
"Security is pretty awful and I'll have to get rid of half my furniture but that's the sacrifice I'm prepared to make," she said.
"It's being able to live a life and when your friends say: 'do you want to go out to lunch?' and you can say happily 'yeah' because I can afford it.
"The government must understand that the housing crisis is real. They seem to be ignoring it and not spending money on public housing. Stop building stadiums and start building homes that are affordable."
