Jane Watts heats her children’s macaroni on the floor of a Berkeley hotel room, using a portable stove that competes for space with open suitcases, two mattresses, a borrowed microwave and the other debris of six lives in disarray.There are only two children to feed tonight. Ms Watts’ other three are living with relatives at Shellharbour and Berkeley.The family moved together from Tasmania late last year when Ms Watts walked out on a violent relationship but now the Illawarra’s tightening private rental market has fractured them.Last quarter the vacancy rate fell to 1.4 per cent in some parts of the region; it is tipped to reach the 1 per cent mark later this year.Ms Watts said she had more than $1600 in fortnightly income and had been applying for rental properties across the region since early September without success. She had lived in public housing in Tasmania, doesn’t believe herself blacklisted, and says she is unable to explain the constant knockbacks.‘‘I [once] applied for 20 in one day,’’ she said. ‘‘I get no explanation, just that [my application] has been unsuccessful. I feel like I am letting my children down.’’ The family - Tiarnah, 6, Joshua, 7, Vinnie, 9, Emily, 11 and Chloe 15 - shared a two-bedroom unit with Ms Watts’ 75-year-old mother in Shellharbour, then moved to a two-bedroom home with a cousin and her two children in Berkeley.When the home grew too crowded they moved to an eight-person tent in the backyard, before making the difficult decision to break up the family across the two homes and the hotel.‘‘I go to bed crying every night, I just want my family back together,’’ Ms Watts said. December rental vacancy data shows only 1.6 per cent availability across the Illawarra (down from 1.8) and 1.4 per cent in the region when Wollongong is excluded (down from 1.6 per cent). Real Estate Institute of NSW Illawarra chairman Charles Hegyi said the numbers were a concern because they were recorded at the end of the year when the University of Wollongong breaks, easing market pressure. Availability will shrink further as the university term resumes. ‘‘I’m forecasting that 1.4 will probably drop down to about one,’’ he said.Mr Hegyi said the competitive market had caused desperate moves by some tenants. He said a property in North Wollongong recently attracted three ‘‘extremely good applicants’’, all offering $20 more than the $380 asking price.In another case, a man offered six months’ rent in advance.Ms Watts is on a waiting list with Housing NSW but said she had been told it could take 10 years for a four-bedroom house to become available.Illawarra Housing Trust executive officer Jenny Stewart said single people and large families were worst affected by limited availability.‘‘I’ve worked in housing for 30 years and it’s as bad or worse as it’s ever been,’’ she said.‘‘I see children that have been to eight different schools in the last five years. They have no friends because they don’t stay in one place long enough to make friends. ‘‘Being homeless when you’re a family is very, very, very challenging.’’