Renting Out Your Story

(case study example)

When considering how to write your rental story through an advocacy lens, it is important to consider how you structure your writing style.

• What’s Next: Seek further assistance if needed and continue to advocate for others in this same situation by sharing your story.

• Know more about this story: Contact the team at connect@communitymattersmedia.org if you want to share your experience.

Let's Discover Your Voice

Sample Rental Case Study Article

Lead-in quote

“Never in my working life did I think that I would have to make a choice between buying groceries or paying power bills, because my rent was too high.” 29

Intro/Background

I have always had employment that covers the bills and makes me feel good professionally. Working closely with people in need, I know what poverty can look like, and I see families that can’t make ends meet, affecting their whole lives. I never expected I would skip meals, and ask for extensions and payment plans on my bills because the cost of living became too high. 66

Dates/Facts

Following ongoing ant and cockroach infestations (inside/outside), (August 2021-June 2024), and being advised to manage with bug sprays, we could no longer live like this, so we organised our own paid services, booking a pest inspection and treatment within the foundations of the home, so we could live in a safer, cleaner environment. 53

Laws/regulations/Research

Annual pest inspections have never occurred during our tenancy, and despite us maintaining cleanliness, (Residential Tenancies Act 1987) we had a high-level infestation (Department of Commerce).

Repairs were continually delayed, where we had no hot water for four days (Winter 2022). The Tenancy Act states: Urgent repairs must be carried out within 24 hours following the tenant notifying the realtor. (Section 43 (1) (a) and (2) (a), (b)) We arranged our own repairs and replacements or paid services without reimbursement due to delaying or refusing action, or out of fear of retaliation. 92

Additional Considerations

My children eat when I can’t, and the situation is getting worse. Our lease is nearly up, and I don’t know what to do. I never expected that I couldn’t afford to live in a safe, stable environment, as a hard-working, single mother-of-three. I live in fear of being homeless if I ask the landlord for reasonable requests. This fear has affected my work, mental and physical health and I cannot afford psychological care. 74

Quote

We are going through the motions and ‘surviving’- there is no room for ‘living’ anymore. 15

Call to Action with mention to the Campaign and Tenancy #10 here

Please support ‘Make Renting Fair’ and ‘Tenancy #10’, to end ‘no grounds’ evictions, stabilise rents, and a minimum set of tenants’ standards, so we don’t live in squalor, poverty and fear of homelessness, not being able to support our children or ourselves. 42

Name, Age, Position, Suburb

Marcia Stevens, 38, Office Manager, Ballajura

371 words in total story

Consider the following other demographics in the rental community...

Below are a number of scenarios that you may identify with, or your story may feel familiar to these situations. Have hope. You are not alone.

Trigger Warning These scenarios below may provide sensitive and potentially upsetting situations and/or circumstances. Please use discretion as needed.

Elderly pensioners, with expensive healthcare needs, can’t keep up with moving or the speed and digitisation of the housing market. They wouldn’t know what to do with a QR code and barely know how to operate their emails, let alone the online application system.
An unemployed single mother caring for children with disability and being unable to work. She is too ‘burnt out’ and too busy managing appointments, behaviour-problems, caring, and her own mental health. The NDIS is barely keeping them afloat, and she has to spend her money to keep up with services required to support her kids.
People living with disabilities having inaccessible housing where they cannot live within their basic rights.
A two-income household with one child and two dogs, find themselves unable to get a rental, despite laws being passed allowing pets on the lease. They know they are still being discriminated against and fear they will have to give up their lifelong pets to find a home.
Students unaware of their rental rights and paying their way through university while working in a casual low-paying job. They cannot afford to spend $400 pw on a single room. They are forced to share a room with a stranger, so they have accommodation over their heads. They do not feel comfortable or safe.
Women with young children escaping family and domestic violence, and due to having no housing prospects beyond emergency refuge situations, they end up returning to the perpetrator.
Grown-up children moving back in with Mum and Dad after exhausting all their house deposit savings on increasing rent and expenses, and no closer to buying a house, unable to find a rental within their price range.
Single father unable to cover a solo rent following a marriage breakdown, insecure employment, mental health concerns and child support taking up much of his wage.
An Indigenous family of 15, now live in a badly maintained 3×1 rental and the children all sleep in one room on mattresses on the floor, while the backyard pergola hosts another two people, who are experiencing ongoing respiratory symptoms over the cold nights of Winter. They are unable to secure adequate housing and they now all live together, despite not getting along. Most of the adults are employed, but they are experiencing challenges related to over-crowding at home, improper access to household basics and various personality clashes in the home. They are losing hope in their situation and have no room to connect with their culture, and no ability to sustain their wellness and go On Country despite needing to reconnect.
A young woman considers turning to prostitution to make enough money to cover the rent and keep a roof over the heads of her two young children. Due to having no access to care, she reluctantly takes on clients in her car down the street, in a bid to earn extra money and stay close enough to the home while her children are sleeping, without having to give away her address. One of the clients has offered to pay for services by fixing their plumbing which has not been properly addressed for 6 months and keeps shorting out. She is thinking of accepting this, so she doesn’t have to ask the owner for more maintenance.
A family of six living in a caravan on a friend’s property as the home itself is too full and already hosts two people ‘couch surfing’ and unable to find a rental.
Families split up across multiple households to have a roof over their heads. They have also had to give up their pets to find a place themselves.
A family are homeless and live out of their car. The parents struggle to get the kids to school, cannot properly and safely access hygiene services and worry the school might be making a complaint against them to have their children taken away if they cannot find suitable accommodation.
Due to insecure housing getting worse over the past couple of years, along with the cost of living, a woman in recovery from addiction can no longer cope and she chooses the substances over the children as a means to ‘black out’ the pain of not having a place to live. Her children are taken away and the siblings are split up between multiple overcrowded group homes and unstable housing situations.

Let’s tell your story!

All these stories are different, but they are also the same. They are a basic snapshot of the rental crisis in WA and how we need fair and equitable access to properties now. By sharing your story, can be a part of that change and make ‘Tenancy #10’ a reality.

How can we help?