Khi Rachel (không phải tên thật) rời nhà năm 19 tuổi, cô không ngờ ngôi nhà chung của mình lại tệ đến thế.
Mười hai người sống trong một ngôi nhà ở phía tây Sydney. Nó chật chội, bẩn thỉu và đầy rác rưởi.
Ban đầu nó chỉ có năm phòng ngủ, nhưng sau đó có thêm bốn phòng ngủ nữa, trong đó có một căn gác nhỏ.
Rachel nói với The Feed : “Bạn không thể dang rộng cánh tay của mình hoàn toàn nếu đang đứng trong phòng.
Tầng hầm đã được cải tạo một cách tồi tàn thành ba phòng ngủ phụ, với những mảnh gỗ mỏng và kệ của IKEA được sử dụng cho những bức tường tạm bợ.
Bên trái: Tường phòng ngủ của Rachel được ghép vội vàng từ những mảnh gỗ mỏng. Đúng: một cái lỗ trên tường của cô ấy. Nguồn: Đã cung cấp
Rachel sống ở một trong những căn phòng dưới tầng hầm đó và trả 250 USD một tuần.
Cô ấy không thể bật đèn trên cao trong ‘phòng ngủ’ của mình vì chúng được dùng chung với phòng đối diện với phòng của cô ấy.
“Tôi gần như sống trong bóng tối vì không có cửa sổ.
“Có những lỗ trên tường nơi nó chưa được xây xong.”
Phòng ngủ của Rachel nhỏ và thường xuyên tối vì cô không thể sử dụng đèn trên cao. Nguồn: Đã cung cấp
Rachel cho biết có camera giám sát trong bếp để đảm bảo người dân đang rửa bát.
Bất chấp điều kiện “không nhân đạo”, Rachel vẫn ở đó sáu tháng.
Cô nói: “Vào thời điểm đó, điều đó thật hợp lý, chỉ vì rất khó tìm được địa điểm ở Sydney…tất cả chúng tôi đều gần như tuyệt vọng”.
Rachel cho biết những người ở chung nhà đã bị camera giám sát ghi lại. Nguồn: Đã cung cấp
Ngày càng khó tìm được một ngôi nhà chung
Nhà ở chung là một cách thuê nhà tiết kiệm chi phí và thường được coi là một nghi thức cho những người trẻ chuyển ra khỏi nhà của gia đình. Họ bao gồm nhiều người không liên quan sống trong cùng một tài sản và chia sẻ cơ sở vật chất.
Nhưng việc kiếm được một căn phòng lại trở nên khó khăn hơn bao giờ hết.
Khi Rachel chuyển đến Sydney từ Adelaide vào giữa năm 2022, cô buộc phải sống trong ô tô của mình và tìm kiếm “tàn nhẫn” trên các trang web khác nhau trước khi tìm được ngôi nhà chung của mình.
The Feed has obtained data from two of Australia’s biggest share accommodation websites, Flatmates.com.au and Flatmate Finders, which shows skyrocketing demand for rooms in every capital city.
In Sydney, there are 14 people searching for rooms for every one room available. In Perth, the ratio is even worse at 16:1.
Flatmate Finders business manager Guy Mitchell said inner-city suburbs are by far the most popular locations.
In January, there were nearly 2,000 people searching for rooms in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, while more than 1,300 were eyeing Bondi Beach.
Share houses are becoming more expensive
With rental vacancy rates hitting record lows –
the rate was 0.9 per cent and in Melbourne 0.8 per cent – it’s becoming more expensive to rent in Australia. And share houses are not immune.
The average price of rooms went up in all capital cities between 2019 and 2023, data from Flatmate Finders shows. Sydney topped the list at $325 per room.
If you’re looking for a share house in Perth, you’ll be forking out an extra 33 per cent – with the average room in costing $225.
Meanwhile, Adelaide residents are paying 23 per cent more than they did in 2019, at $208 per room.
The conditions can be exploitative
Rachel said her experience living in a share house was “uncomfortable” – and she’s not alone.
Zahra Nasreen, a housing researcher at the University of Sydney, found 13 per cent of Sydney’s share houses are overcrowded.
In the worst cases, she’s seen up to 14 people living in two-bedroom units – even resorting to sharing beds.
“They can’t function properly, they have to wait for their turns to perform their daily routines, like cooking, showers and sleeping,” Ms Nasreen said.
Ms Nasreen said living in overcrowded share houses can lead to health issues such as disturbed sleep patterns, noise-related complaints and mental health issues.
“These overcrowded units actually can be defined under the conditions of homelessness, either emotionally or physically,” Ms Nasreen said.
A share house room advertised for rent in Sydney, intended for four people. Credit: Reddit/Shoddy_Cauliflower82
How many people live in share houses?
Chris Martin, a researcher at UNSW’s City Futures Research Centre, believes house sharing is making a comeback after COVID-19, when people were more reluctant to enter into a share house situation.
“As interest rates start to contract the economy and more and more people are less secure in their jobs…they start exiting homes of their own, and they start sharing again,” he said.
Almost 850,000 Australians reported living in group households in the
.
It’s an
, when around 350,000 people lived in group households.
But Mr Martin believes the true figure could be much higher, due to some share houses being counted as couple households.
Who is looking for a share house?
It’s often assumed only young people live in share accommodation. But Mr Martin said the age demographic of share home inhabitants is changing due to rental pressures.
“We know people are renting longer into their lives, and we suspect people are sharing longer into their lives as well,” Mr Martin said.
In her study, Ms Nasreen came across many older people living in share homes, including single mothers and people in their 50s and 60s.
She found Sydney’s share house residents are mostly international students and other migrants, such as temporary visa holders, refugees and working holidaymakers.
What are your rights if you live in shared housing?
Knowing your rights as a share house resident can be complicated. There’s no single set of rental laws covering share houses in particular.
Your rights and obligations depend on what state you are in and what kind of agreement you have with your rental provider.
Rachel never signed a written agreement with her rental provider. Because of this, she was not considered a tenant in NSW.
“There’s a special rule that says if you occupy a share household, your agreement with the head tenant has to be in writing for you to be under the Residential Tenancies Act,” Mr Martin explained.
This is different to non-shared households, where you are still protected as a tenant even if you never signed a lease.
Rachel would have been considered a lodger in a general boarding house. Lodgers have very limited legal rights.
Rachel’s share house was dirty and cluttered with junk. Source: Supplied
“She’s supposed to get a receipt when she pays for rent, the proprietor is supposed to respect her quiet enjoyment of the room,” Mr Martin said.
Lodgers are entitled to four weeks’ notice before a rent increase.
“The resident must not be evicted without reasonable written notice. As far as what ‘reasonable’ is, it’s not defined – it depends on why the proprietor wants to end it,” Mr Martin said.
Mr Martin said regulators don’t have much insight into the private rental sector.
He is advocating for a Shared Accommodation Act to be created, which would outline a “sensible set of rules for sharing”.
This would create special laws specific to share houses, clarifying practices such as minimum standards of living, splitting bills and disputes between housemates.
“If you’re the person who rents the spare room and someone else is calling the shots as to who else moves in, there are risks with that, and that does justify a higher level of regulation.”
Rachel has now moved out of the shared home and is living with her partner.
“My boyfriend was like, ‘Hey, would you want to move in together?’ I was like, ‘F-ck yes, get me out of here!’”
Additional reporting by Kenneth Macleod.