Australia's rental crisis appears to be getting worse and this is particularly apparent in Wagga.
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In Wagga, the latest data from SQM Research has revealed the vacancy rate has plummeted from 2.3 per cent in January 2020 to just 0.5 per cent last month.
During that same period, rental prices have also seen a dramatic increase, with houses increasing from $350 per week to $460.
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Meanwhile, unit rent prices also saw a significant rise from $264 in January 2020 to $336 last month.
As people battle to find housing, they have been increasingly turning to caravan parks, which have seen a significant shift in their clientele as a large proportion of locals inquire about long-term accommodation.
One of these is Forest Hill's Airport Tourist Park and manager Natasha Ducker says all of the sites 14 cabins and houses are now taken up with long-term residents.
"We've also got four powered sites being used by people who have been there for quite a while," Ms Ducker said.
"Up until recently 80 per cent of those were taken up with permanent residents, but in the last three months or so, every call that comes through is looking for permanent accommodation.
"But I've had to knock that many people back because we're full."
One man doing it tough in a cabin at the caravan park is 54-year-old Richard Whitlock.
A gardener by trade, Mr Whitlock has now lived there for almost two years after losing a full-time job saw him give up his three-bedroom rental in Kooringal.
"I couldn't afford to stay where I was," he said.
Mr Whitlock lives there with his labrador Lucy and forks out $500 per fortnight for the place - not far off what he used to pay at Kooringal.
He takes the work he can get, but due to his age and circumstances he says the cards are stacked against him when it comes to securing a place of his own again.
"When you're on the dole, rent's $500 per fortnight, you get $750 and you have to put groceries in that, including any other bills you might have like gas, electricity and water, you more or less have nothing left and you're just living by the fortnight," he said.
Mr Whitlock said living long-term in a cabin is far from ideal, with the only real positives being the small space means it's easier to clean, and it beats living in a tent.
He said while houses are prohibitively expensive, granny flats are significantly cheaper, but the odds of securing one are slim.
In recent weeks the city's homeless population have come to the fore after council issued an eviction notice to long-term campers at Wilks Park in the city's north.
That notice was later retracted.
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