Single mom says faces homelessness as landlord doubles rent during holiday season, sparks debate

The housing crisis is not limited to underdeveloped countries or remote regions. It is an alarming situation that is affecting many people who earn a handsome salary as well. One such single mom from Australia has fallen into the middle of Perth's housing crisis. Jakki Brooking—who goes by @jakkibrooking on TikTok—who works as a registered nurse, took to the platform to share her plight in a video. Her landlord had doubled the rent from $300 to $630 and she is on the verge of facing homelessness with her 6-year-old son.

The personal financial troubles have worsened for the single mother as the hike in rent happened just before Christmas. 28-year-old Brooking had no options to fix her situation immediately, so she documented her misery to spread awareness about the crisis. Brooking revealed that she has been living in that rental for six years and the house in which she lives is part of the National Rental Affordability Scheme, which is meant for people and families with low income.

But the new owner of the housing didn't want to stick to the scheme and now the tenants have to pay $630 per week. She states that there is no way she can afford it and she is a single parent who has been contacting her real estate agent to try and figure out where she should settle next. "My lease is up on the first of January. I’ve applied for houses and I’ve been getting rejected for all of them. There was another rental available that was also part of the NRAS scheme. If you transfer from one NRAS property to another, it doesn’t count as an existing tenant," she clarified.

"In my last email to the real estate agent, I think I said something along the lines of, ‘I have been applying for houses. I’ve been getting rejected for all of them. Like, we’re facing homelessness from the end of the lease because I can’t afford to pay the $630,'" Brooking continued. The real estate agent informed her that if she doesn't vacate the house by the time her lease ends, then the owners might drag her to court. "I work as a registered nurse at one of the hospitals in Perth. I have a permanent contract. I just don’t know what I’m meant to do at this point," she said helplessly, almost at the brink of tears.

"I have somewhere for Levi to go from the end of the lease if we can’t find anywhere between now and then. I need to find somewhere for our cat and dog to go and rent a storage unit to put all our stuff in. Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. I’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes now so I better go inside," she said while concluding her video. Brooking's video garnered over 390,000 views so far and fellow TikTok users jumped into the comment section to spare the single mom some quality advice and share their similar experiences as well.

@msjessicajaye wrote: "Your employer is the government. The fact that you are facing the risk of homelessness in that context is wild. We need to wake up as a society." @missmononoke remarked: "Our landlord took us to court as we stayed past our lease because it was that or live on the streets, we won the case and were granted another 60 days." @singingflower23 suggested: "Ring your state tenancy board they can’t kick you out if you have nowhere to go. Ex-landlord here where tenant pleaded financial hardship." @whiskeystibbytravels added: "One of many single mums in the same boat. Enraged me the wealthy landlords are still doing this to people and the government does nothing."