In Natasha Malone's three-bedroom rental home, three beds are in the front lounge room — for herself and two of her eight children.
The single mother has been told that she will need to find a new rental by December, and her landlord has increased the weekly rent from $360 to $500.
Ms Malone has to cut back on petrol and childcare expenses, get food from charities and stop taking medication for her recent cancer diagnosis to pay for the 38 per cent rent hike.
She said that it was extreme to be hit with a $140 increase in one go.
What's more important, having a house or medication? It is currently having a house. Her rent alone takes up half of her fortnightly Centrelink payments of $2,000.
Ms Malone has applied for 46 new rentals in the past four months but rejected every one.
She said that if you're not in a position to do that, it makes it really defeating, because everyone's offering more, like $100 more a week.
I'm worried that we're going to end up on the street and have nowhere to go. Low supply in the Adelaide rental housing market, coupled with high demand, has driven rent prices through the roof.
The latest CoreLogic data shows Adelaide has the lowest vacancy rates in the country, while rents have gone up by 4.3 per cent between April and June this year.
The Real Estate Institute of South Australia director Adam Blight said the squeeze on the Adelaide rental market has been on the rise for the past 18 months as people chose to move to Adelaide during COVID.
"I think every new tenant we're bringing on, we're potentially knocking back maybe 12 to 15 people that have also applied for the property," said Mr Blight, who is also Ouwens Casserly's property management director.
We've seen applications on properties doubled in the last 12 months and we've seen them on the market in the last 12 months. The legislation introduced by the SA Greens to cap rent in line with inflation was introduced by the SA Greens yesterday.
The issue of low supply was not addressed by limiting landlords from raising rent prices.
The property market is not slowing down soon, and it feels like it's not slowing down soon. Unless a whole lot of properties come on the market at once, the supply issue is still going to be there and it doesn't seem like the demand issue is going anywhere, he said.
Renter advocacy group Better Renting wants the government to take control of rent increases and end no-cause evictions.
The campaigner Bernie Barrett said renters reported increases in weekly rent prices from $10 to more than $100.
Renters are pushed out of their homes because their rent is increasing or the landlord wants to re-lease the place for higher rent. We are hearing people are moving back with family, living in their cars, living in caravan parks.
Housing is an essential service, and we have a responsibility to make essential services accessible and equitable.