An Anglicare Rental Affordability Snapshot looked at properties available in early April and also found zero were suitable for singles on Newstart Allowance - such as single parents, people with a disability or Youth Allowance.

Anna Sventek and her 16-year-old daughter have been couch-surfing since their Shellharbour lease came to an end in December and said she’s been discriminated against for being on a disability pension.

Despite applying for properties since last September, Ms Sventek said she would often be up against at least 20 other applicants each time.

She said they were currently staying in a friend’s loungeroom in Kiama but could not move further afield because her daughter had just started Year 11 in Port Kembla.

“I used to be an architectural draughtsperson … I would love to get a job and work again, but you have to be really sick to be on a disability pension,” she said.

“My daughter’s finding it hard and going through a bit of depression, she doesn’t have her own room or belongings.”

Ms Sventek was already spending close to half of her income on her last property’s rent and doesn’t know what else she can do.

“Really I should have just stayed there until I’d found a place and let them hunt me down with the tribunal,” she said.

“Having a home over your head is one of the basics.”

Fay Egan’s family is another struggling.

“One of my daughters moved six hours away because she couldn't afford to rent locally. I miss her and her family. Another daughter is living with her in-laws with their two boys,” she said.

Another of Mrs Egan’s daughters is on a disability pension and has been looking for a rental for over two years.

“Her and my grand-daughter are still living at home … kids are having to live at home longer because they can't afford to move out.”

The Anglicare report recommends greater assistance for low-income earners, “in order to lay a secure foundation for all other aspects of their lives and families”.

Anglicare Sydney CEO Grant Millard said it was unacceptable to push low-income earners into “rental stress”, and had seen people trying survive on $20 a week after rent and bills.

The organisation is pushing the State Government to increase social housing, as well as campaigning for the Federal Government to raise the wage of Newstart Allowance and Rent Assistance.

Member for Cunningham Sharon Bird said the issue was especially real for the Illawarra due to low vacancy rates and had been so for some time.

“We did have policies in place, for example, the National Rental Affordability Scheme which subsidised rental properties available so people on low-incomes could access them, but unfortunately the Abbott Government scrapped that in 2014,” she said.

Meantime Wollongong MP Noreen Hay said housing affordability was an issue she raised last year with the Baird Government and one she would raise again.

“Housing affordability is in need of urgent attention from all levels of Government and it can only get worse while the NSW Government continues to sell public housing stock without replenishing it,” she said.

“It is most certainly a policy issue I will pursue in the future and I am confident that when Labor wins Government, we will do all in our power to address the housing crisis.”

After Jo Ford’s marriage broke down, she found it extremely difficult to find an affordable and suitable rental that would also accept her companion dog.

Ms Ford is on a disability pension and needs to take her dog everywhere to prevent panic attacks and anxiety.

As a single person it has made it harder for her to find somewhere to live. At one point she resorted to living in her ex’s garage.

Desperate to find a place she decided to share a house with an old friend who was also having trouble.

She admitted initially lying on her application for their current two-bedroom house in Windang but eventually confessed to the property manager.

“We lied [for my friend’s] application because we just weren’t getting anything … I was so desperate I would have said anything,” she said.

“It was like, ‘I’m 48 years of age and I’ve hit total rock bottom’ I thought.”

Ms Ford moved to the Illawarra four years ago from Sydney, in search of a better lifestyle and cheaper rent, as well as being closer to family. But she believes prices have risen to be nearly on par with the big city.

“In the last couple of years it’s gotten worse. The prices are like Sydney now and the quality of homes they have here are crap. They’re really bad,” she said.

Ms Ford said the minimal properties that do come on the market at an affordable price were often falling apart or filthy.

With her Windang lease about to end and her housemate wanting to move elsewhere, the cycle of application and knock-backs has begun again.

“This place is $420 a week and I can’t afford that on my own,” she said.

“I’ve looked as far as Shoalhaven heads … health-wise I need to stay near the water.”

The Anglicare Rental Affordability Snapshot surveyed the 835 available two-bedroom rentals around the Illawarra in early April, finding just eight were affordable and appropriate for families on welfare.

While none were suitable for a single person on aged, disability, sole parent, or Newstart pensions.

It coincides with research by Housing NSW that revealed the median cost of renting a two bedroom home on the south coast had risen above the state median of five per cent.

Kiama was the highest up 11 per cent, while the Shoalhaven was up eight per cent.

The current median rent paid weekly for a two bedroom house is $395 in Wollongong and $368 in Shellharbour. While the median for a three bedroom house in Kiama is $450, or a two bedroom unit at $355 per week.

At the last census 28.7 per cent of Illawarra households were renting, while of the total Illawarra population 15.9 per cent were on incomes less than $400 per week.