Ann and Michael Wilks looking for a home in tough rental market after 90 day eviction notice

His daughter Molly is currently doing her HSC, while younger brother Michael just started high school and the three of them, along with Mr Wilks' wife Ann, will be homeless if they don't find a place to live by July 12.

"I've tried so hard to set an example for my kids," Mr Wilks said.

"I've got two kids who I've promised stuff to and I can't even deliver a home."

"It's soul destroying," Mrs Wilks said.

The family was served a 90 day no grounds eviction notice on their rental home at Sunshine, near Morisset, in April.

They say they have no family in the area to stay with.

It came after Mr Wilks said he approached the property manager upon the end of their 12 month lease in December hoping to re-sign on a five year agreement.

"We wanted some security for the kids," Mr Wilks said.

He said throughout their time in the home he had fixed things around the house at his own cost, which he believed might have helped their case.

"I put screens at my own cost on the windows," he said.

"I fixed the back and front door, replaced washers on the taps, took dead dirt out of the garden and replaced it with top soil now. We now have a matured tropical garden.

"I did all the edges, hedged all gardens. I never bothered the real estate with it."

But he said the landlord then proposed a rent rise of $80 on top of the $400 they pay a week.

Mr Wilks said he was willing to negotiate this if the landlord fixed some of the issues he had been unable to.

"Things that they needed a tradesman for," he said.

They were then served with an eviction notice.

"We're now paying $480 a week for a house we still have to get out of," Mr Wilks said.

They've been looking for homes from Toronto to Wyong since but haven't had any luck finding a place.

"It's just impossible to find a house," Mr Wilks said.

"You go to apply for one and it says applicant approved, applicant pending."

"I've always found it so easy to get a house," Ms Wilks said.

"Owners used to do up the house to get you to take it."

The pair are both on disability pensions and say it's impossible to compete in the current market to secure a place.

"We're going to places that are saying 'offers between $390 and $420'," Mr Wilks said.

"I say 'I don't want to do this but I'm prepared to pay $480, then a lady walks up behind me and says 'I'll pay $520' and the houses are not up to scratch."

Christine Mastello, who runs community welfare organisation Southlake's Incorporated, said the current housing situation brought her to tears.

"Last night I just cried about it for half an hour," she said.

"How do you not get broken over this?

"You can't help but look at your own family and think about how you're so close to homelessness if your landlord issues you an eviction.

"You stress every time you go to the mailbox.

"These people aren't on drugs, they aren't child abusers.

"They're normal people who just can't find a house.

"They can afford $450-$500 a week, but the houses just aren't there."

She said every time her organisation tried to help a family in need find a home, more families reached out to her for the same kind of assistance.

"It feels like we're in a big huge pit and more dirt is being thrown on us," she said. "We're literally powerless.

"I honestly thought after the COVID lockdown things would have gone back to normal but they keep getting worse."

She believes the government should be doing more to create housing, particularly for low income earners.

"It's solvable," she said. "It shouldn't be like this."

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