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http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23860488-2862,00.html
No place to go: Hussein and Rugia Zaghar with their 11 children and a truck full of all their belongings.
Rental crisis leaves family out in cold
Kelly Ryan
June 14, 2008 12:00am
A FAMILY of 13 were bunking down on the floor of an acquaintance's house last night as Victoria's rental crisis hit a critical new low.
The two adults and 11 children, refugees from Afghanistan, had feared ending up on Melbourne's cold streets after a desperate search for emergency housing failed to turn up suitable accommodation.
Father Hussein Zaghar declined the only emergency accommodation offered late in the day -- a one-room cabin at a caravan park 80km from Melbourne.
He was concerned for son Iss
a, 9, who jammed a finger in a car door as the family frantically drove from agency to agency, trying to get a roof over their heads.
He was desperate to stay close to St Albans, where six of his children are in a local primary school and four attend the nearby secondary school.
The Zaghars spent yesterday afternoon driving around with everything they own crammed in the back of a rental truck.
The children, aged 3-18, were in tears, their parents anxious and frustrated.
Julie Heaney, principal of St Albans South Primary School, where the youngest children are educated, accompanied the family on their search.
"Who would believe a family with 11 children would be out on the streets on a cold winter's night in Melbourne in this day and age?" she asked.
The family have privately rented a two-storey St Albans home for more than a year but the owner is selling and they've been ordered out.
Many families have felt the housing pinch first-hand.
REIV fi
gures reveal an all-time low for rental properties across Melbourne, forcing many renters to pay more to secure a home.
Even though 75,000 properties are available as public housing, prospective tenants must contend with a waiting list of about 35,000.
Unable to find accommodation, Mr Zaghar had remained at his rented and immaculately maintained St Albans home.
But, frightened he'd get his marching orders at a VCAT eviction hearing scheduled for next week, he bundled up the family's belongings yesterday and began his search.
"From the moment they found out they had to leave their home, they have searched the surrounding suburbs for somewhere else to live," Ms Heaney said.
The exhausted parents last night accepted a last-minute offer to bunk down at the home of a St Albans acquaintance, another ex-Afghan refugee.
"The acquaintance lives with his wife and seven children in a five-bedroom home in Hillside," Ms Heaney said. "That makes a total of four adults and 1
8 children sleeping on the floors for the weekend, when the search will start again."
No place to go: Hussein and Rugia Zaghar with their 11 children and a truck full of all their belongings.
Rental crisis leaves family out in cold
Kelly Ryan
June 14, 2008 12:00am
A FAMILY of 13 were bunking down on the floor of an acquaintance's house last night as Victoria's rental crisis hit a critical new low.
The two adults and 11 children, refugees from Afghanistan, had feared ending up on Melbourne's cold streets after a desperate search for emergency housing failed to turn up suitable accommodation.
Father Hussein Zaghar declined the only emergency accommodation offered late in the day -- a one-room cabin at a caravan park 80km from Melbourne.
He was concerned for son Iss
a, 9, who jammed a finger in a car door as the family frantically drove from agency to agency, trying to get a roof over their heads.
He was desperate to stay close to St Albans, where six of his children are in a local primary school and four attend the nearby secondary school.
The Zaghars spent yesterday afternoon driving around with everything they own crammed in the back of a rental truck.
The children, aged 3-18, were in tears, their parents anxious and frustrated.
Julie Heaney, principal of St Albans South Primary School, where the youngest children are educated, accompanied the family on their search.
"Who would believe a family with 11 children would be out on the streets on a cold winter's night in Melbourne in this day and age?" she asked.
The family have privately rented a two-storey St Albans home for more than a year but the owner is selling and they've been ordered out.
Many families have felt the housing pinch first-hand.
REIV fi
gures reveal an all-time low for rental properties across Melbourne, forcing many renters to pay more to secure a home.
Even though 75,000 properties are available as public housing, prospective tenants must contend with a waiting list of about 35,000.
Unable to find accommodation, Mr Zaghar had remained at his rented and immaculately maintained St Albans home.
But, frightened he'd get his marching orders at a VCAT eviction hearing scheduled for next week, he bundled up the family's belongings yesterday and began his search.
"From the moment they found out they had to leave their home, they have searched the surrounding suburbs for somewhere else to live," Ms Heaney said.
The exhausted parents last night accepted a last-minute offer to bunk down at the home of a St Albans acquaintance, another ex-Afghan refugee.
"The acquaintance lives with his wife and seven children in a five-bedroom home in Hillside," Ms Heaney said. "That makes a total of four adults and 1
8 children sleeping on the floors for the weekend, when the search will start again."