A mother’s fury over being forced into homelessness with her two children has been met with widespread sympathy while also sparking fierce debate.
Emma Lenz, who lives in a rented caravan in the Darling Downs area of southern central Queensland, has unleased at property investors who she says have ‘taken all the houses’.
In a video posted to TikTok she writes: ‘I’m angry today. I feel like s*** and I’m homeless‘.
She lays the blame on property investors, writing: ‘if you own more than one house your greed has left me homeless.
‘I don’t want to pay of your houses I want to keep one, just one that I’ve paid for for f***’s sake. I hate the world and I hate investors. Give us back our houses you greedy c***s.’
In the video she anticipates a negative reaction to the video.
Mother-of-two Emma Lenz has vented her fury at being forced to live in a rented caravan with her children because of rental unaffordability
‘I think one of the biggest reasons people don’t admit to being homeless or talk about it or own it is because when you say you are homeless the stock standard response from every Australian is it’s your own fault,’ she says.
‘Obviously you have made poor financial choices and obviously that brings a lot of shame and humiliation and it’s desperately unfair.
‘I have paid half a million rent in my time, that’s enough for two houses up here where I live now but I am homeless because when you pay rent you don’t get equity, you don’t get a return on that.’
She says those who accuse of her making poor financial choices don’t realise she had no choice.
‘I wasn’t allowed to buy because my income has never been high enough, I did buy for a couple of years but my ex-husband couldn’t keep a job so we had to sell the apartment and have been renting ever since,’ she says.
‘I have been on my own for 10 years and I am paying an average of $24,000 a year out of a $30,000 income to see rich bastards tell me to see how you would survive if you were paying 80% of your income to rent.
‘Someone recently told me: “Just spend less than what I earn”.
‘Less than what I earn has me homeless.
Ms Lenz explained that her son’s autism only allows her to work part-time but she was ‘working her a*** off’
‘I can’t qualify for housing anywhere in Australia… because I am not a crackhead I don’t qualify for social housing so where the f*** are you Australia, seriously?’
In a later video she explained why she was living in a caravan despite being in a regional area where rents are cheaper than in Australia’s main capital cities.
‘The issue is if you are a low income earner on less than $60,000 a year you don’t qualify for a rental, your income has to be three times what the rental is, so around here the rental is $400 a week so you have to be bringing in $1200 of income,’ she said.
‘As a single parent I can only bring in about $700-$800 in a good week.
According to Ms Lenz she would never be able to qualify for a home loan.
‘I am not allowed to buy a house because my income doesn’t service the loan on paper even though I have never missed a week’s rent,’ she said
‘I watched someone get murdered and went home and paid rent that day. I had a baby and paid rent that day.’
‘My ex-husband went completely psychotic. I think that shows I will pay for my housing no matter what.’
While the majority of responses to Ms Lenz were sympathetic some expressed harsh opinions.
‘Get a job,’ said the first one.
‘I’m a single mum and have been for 15yrs. I earn minimum wage. I own my own home. No excuse and you don’t need to be rich to own,’ said another TikTok user.
One told her ‘good luck being so angry and bitter’ to which Ms Lenz posted a reply saying: ‘I am deeply ashamed at how angry and bitter I am’.
Another TikTok user questioned Ms Lenz’s financial claims.
‘Sorry this is what you’re going through. May I ask what kind of job in Australia pays only $30K? Or are you only part-time?’
Ms Lenz confirmed she worked part-time because her son has a disability.
In other TikTok videos she explained her situation saying she had a job that could bring in $100,000 a year, a gardening business and recently got a degree in Fine Arts from Wollongong University.
On her social media she lists her occupation as shearing shed roustabout.
‘I have a couple of jobs. I often go to work at 5am in the morning and try to get home by 9am so I can get the kids to school,’ she says.
‘We are the working poor. We have jobs.’
However, she explains her autistic son can sometimes only go to school for an hour or two a day.
‘I might get four or five days a week I can’t go to work,’ she says but explains her son sometimes comes to work with her.
‘We are working our arses off,’ she said.
‘I don’t take days off, I work weekends as well.’
Ms Lenz said her children, comprising the son and a teenage daughter, had recently come to live with her because they were fleeing domestic violence and came with ‘very few clothes and no shoes’.
The majority of people commenting expressed sympathy or outlined they were in similar situations.
‘My husband and I realised he’s paid off the owner’s mortgage in a little over 10 years already yet rent keeps rising,’ one person wrote.
‘It’s not your fault. There is something broken in this country. I’m sorry for your situation,’ another said.
Another TikTok user noted ‘the financial disparity between men and women, particularly single mothers, is really hitting hard at the moment’.
Some agreed with Lenz that property investment has skewed the market.
‘The rampant speculation into property, because it has become an asset class rather than an abode, is destroying society,’ one person wrote.
Ms Lenz also had a warning that no renter could ‘feel safe’ from becoming homeless.
‘Now you can’t get a rental if you have less than $60,000 (per year),’ she said.
‘Next year it will be $70,000 and the year after that $80,000.’
