Tamworth tenants struggle to find properties due to 'scarily low' housing supply

The 22 year old single mother called out for help through an online post.

"I am desperately needing a two bedroom place for my three year old and myself," she wrote.

"I have posted here before but I still can't get anything."

The exodus of people choosing to move from metropolitan cities to regional areas in the last 18 months has had an enormous impact on New England, the North West, West and Far West.

It has meant housing supply has become an issue, according to Kerryann Pankhurst, service manager of the New England and Western Tenants Advocacy and Advice Service, which represents renters.

"All of our people, all of the local people, where do they go?" she said.

According to Ms Pankhurst, single parents without homes are no longer unusual.

Rent in the Tamworth area rose by 8.6 per cent last year, and in the city of Tamworth the rent increase was 10.77 per cent on the previous year.

The Tamworth vacancy rate currently sits at 0.7 per cent - scarily low according to Natalie Graham, business development manager and property management supervisor at Burke & Smyth real estate agency.

"We just don't have enough rental properties for the number of prospective tenants that are looking for homes," she said.

Without the supply, the balance shifts against the people who need the homes to live in.

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The market is so competitive, LJ Hooker real estate agent Sam Spokes compared looking for a home to looking for a job.

Application, looks, and speech, count.

"People have got to present themselves like they want to have a landlord let them live in their property, and I think that's where a lot of people are struggling," he said.

"It is to some extent an interview with a property manager. They're going to give feedback to the landlord and at the end of the day, the landlord makes the decision on who will be renting their property," said Spokes.

Ms Swan said she's attached the correct documents to her applications, including a reference from her boss, her payslips, and Centrelink statements.

Kerryann Pankhurst said the reality is people on statutory incomes are competing against people earning wages, and coming up short.

"It's entirely lawful for an agent or a landlord to discriminate against someone in that way. It is lawful for them to do it because we don't have a needs-based system at all."

When Ms Swan moved in with her step-dad in November, she told him it was only temporary.

"Half the time I feel like I'm imposing and I've overstayed my welcome," she said.

Her daughter's toys and trampoline are packed away in storage.

"She always asks about it and I say I'm sorry, I can't bring that here, because it's not our home."

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