AMID any crisis, tensions will flare. So it was on Thursday when a group of Newcastle squatters staged a protest after police evicted them from the property where they had been residing.
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In the midst of a housing crisis, the stakes were significant for those who had been living in a property to which they had no legal claim.
The dwelling they had been calling home, a Parry Street residence, belongs to Kloster Ford. The car dealer and its parent company have earmarked the house for demolition to make way for a car park.
Certainly, the owners of a property have the right to decide how it is used. But when shelter is also a basic human right, the desperate plight of those without a place to live can lead to desperate measures.
Quinn, who has been staying at the property, said the group resorted to squatting as they had not been able to obtain private rentals and were "locked out of the housing market".
"A few of us had been looking on the rental market solidly for months," he said.
"We got exhausted. Some of us were sleeping at King Edward Park, sleeping in cars and at friends' houses.
"There are basically no rental properties affordable for low incomes. We have continued to look for more secure rental properties with no luck.
"We have seen an increase in empty properties, but there's no disincentive for them to be left empty."
It is illegal to enter into enclosed lands without the consent of the owner, occupier or person apparently in charge of those lands or to remain on those lands after being asked by the owner, occupier or person apparently in charge of those lands to leave.
Lawlessness cannot stand, and it is not the fault of any individual property owner that rental properties are priced beyond many who need them. That is a development that has been brought about through policy that, by intervention or omission, has guided the market to this point.
Neither, though, is the existing stalemate the fault of those seeking desperate interim arrangements. A failure to plan for adequate social or affordable housing provisions to prevent this exact scenario unfolding means waiting lists are gargantuan.
When legitimate accommodation is unavailable, where do lawmakers suggest the people who most need help and support, including those on low incomes, lay their heads? Support services across the Hunter say they are already picking up the slack of a system that is locking people out.
A Hunter program offering homeless women refuge in a car park drew huge attention this week and broke a responsible minister's heart. Perhaps it is time to admit the status quo is failing far too many people.
