Single mother Kirby-Lee Clay, 37, has been in social housing for a decade but, even with subsidised rent, she's still scuffling to spread her cash as inflation costs rise.
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"This isn't living, it's surviving," the Metford resident said.
"I would love to know what it's like to live even just for one day."
Surviving off JobSeeker and a Family Tax Benefit, Ms Clay receives $1080 a fortnight and has to split her funds across rent, utility bills and food.
"My rent is $214 per week and then I have to pay for water, gas and electricity, the car, grocery, petrol ... it's hard with one incoming flowing in, it just doesn't stop," she said.
"You get two steps forward and go four back, you're never in front."
"I'm lucky my mum lives around the corner, otherwise I would literally have to give up my food for my son to eat and go to school," she said.
Ms Clay is currently unemployed and said if she was to start working again, her rent would go to a market value of $425.
"It's just hard being a single mother, nobody wants to give you a go. Even if I go to work, I'm still no better off working rent-wise, than I am sitting at home," she said.
University of Newcastle senior lecturer of Sociology doctor Julia Cook said those on welfare benefits and working would have to report their earnings to Centrelink, which would then determine how much payment they received.
"If you're earning more, it starts to reduce, it's on a sliding scale," she said.
"It can be particularly difficult especially for single parents who are receiving these kinds of parenting payments, they're very likely to be living pay cheque to pay cheque.
"The difference of $20 can be a really significant issue," she said.
Dr Cook said people such as Ms Clay, who live in social and community housing, generally had their rent subsidised and set at a proportion of their income.
"In some cases being in the social community housing sector is kind of a better situation for them in terms of finances at least, compared to being in the private rental sector," she said.
"But, just because they have rental prices for the subsidised rate, it doesn't mean they're not affected by the cost of everything else.
"Those that are on a single parenting payments or on the disability support pension - they're still being quite affected by the general increase in the cost of living, they'd be doing it really tough."
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The shortage of social housing still remains an issue across the country and Ms Clay says even 10 years ago "it was a jungle out there".
"I had to apply for 52 places before I got this place," she said.
In 2023 people are waiting between two and 10 years for social and community housing, depending on their needs.
Communities and Justice NSW says the expected wait time for a one bedroom studio property in Newcastle is between two and five years while two, three and four bedroom properties have a wait list between five and 10 years.
"There's simply not enough social housing relative to the demand," Dr Cook said.
Despite the Albanese government unlocking $575 million in funding from the National Housing Infrastructure Facility towards social and affordable homes, Dr Cook says the long waits were still overpowering.
"The amount they've promised to build is really just a drop in the ocean when you look at the volume of wait lists," she said.
As of June 2022, there were 1709 applicants, with 111 in high need of a home in the Newcastle area. There are 662 in Lake Macquarie and 55 a high priority.
Across the state mid-last year, there were 51,031 applicants and 6519 of those were a priority.
"I know in the Lower Hunter at the moment the social housing wait list is five to 10 years and if you need housing now, that's not particularly helpful," Dr Cook said.
"There's increased demand for social housing because of what's happening in the private rental sector - more people are getting squeezed out simply due to the increased price of rent in many places."
Dr Cook said that, for example, the UK had 20 per cent of social housing, while Australia had 3 per cent.
"We have a very small social housing sector. I think the kind of obvious answer is to invest in social and community housing," she said.
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Alanna Tomazin
Alanna is a journalist at the Newcastle Herald with a focus on education. She takes pride in regional journalism which she believes is crucial to informing our towns and cities. Have a story? Email her at alanna.tomazin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Alanna is a journalist at the Newcastle Herald with a focus on education. She takes pride in regional journalism which she believes is crucial to informing our towns and cities. Have a story? Email her at alanna.tomazin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
