$215 a week to live on a balcony
Words and photographs by Charles Taperell
"I hated this for a long time, and I wanted to move, but I’ve sort of made it my space now."
Josh Chamberlin, 23, lives on a balcony. The large, windowless arch next to his bed welcomes an unimpeded din of traffic from Newtown’s King Street. The only entrance is through his friend’s bedroom. Oh, and he pays $215 per week.
Aside from the fact he lives on a balcony, Josh’s situation exemplifies that of many young people.
Low on funds and credit history, and facing the generalised mistrust endured by young tenants, Josh and his mates struggled to get a lease, forcing them to consider alternative options that didn't necessarily come cheap.
"The problem with it was that I had just got here [from Toowoomba] and I didn’t have a job – or I had just got a job. The guys I was looking with were both freelance videographers so they didn’t really have a steady income, and they had no rental credit history and I only had a little bit, so it was so hard getting houses," Josh, who now works in retail, says.
The three of them opted for the two-bedroom house as a temporary option 13 months ago. Josh initially chose to sleep in the living room, then tried sharing a room with one of his housemates before eventually settling on the balcony.
"It’s expensive here, but it was supposed to be only for a little while. Then we started doing gigs in the courtyard and no one really cares that we rehearse in here all the time. We’ve got good neighbours. It’s hard to get good neighbours these days, even in Newtown.
“People look and point all the time. I don’t mind it. It’s cool. I shout at people I know all the time as well. There’s also a random guy that lives in our laundry. It’s definitely smaller than this and he’s got his whole house in there.”
Unconventional student and creative share house living is nothing new. For generations, scores of city-dwelling young people around the world have existed in often comically unorthodox and sub-par living arrangements. Certainly, Sydney’s global-index-topping rental prices have sparked some novel and innovative housing solutions.
Not everyone is cramming into overcrowded sharehouses though. Nathan, a 22-year-old self-published author and musician, decided a boarding house was the best alternative for him.
“I was so over living in sharehouses in the inner west after four years of it. I just did a search for the cheapest place I could find near my new work and this place came up,” Nathan says.
Bed bugs, security issues and the perils of unwritten lease agreements were just some of the elements young people were wrestling with when it came to finding affordable places to live.
“Young people are particularly vulnerable when it comes to housing,” says Joel Pringle, Campaign Manager for Australians for Affordable Housing (AAH). "Once young people are living independently, the high costs of housing can keep them out of stable accommodation.”
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