Home sweet home, at last

By Elizabeth Lillis
AFTER more than two months searching for a home, a Pakenham mother and her four children finally have a roof over their heads.
Natasha Tuck received the best news possible on Tuesday when she was finally accepted for a property in the local Pakenham rental market.
She has faced an uphill battle to find a rental property in a competitive market despite having good references.
Ms Tuck’s diary was marked with appointments with agents and she had even gone to the extent of taking out paid ‘Wanted to rent” advertisements in local papers. When she contacted the News last week she was desperate for a home in Pakenham.
Ms Tuck and her four children, Amy 11, Rodney 10, Emily, 8, and Courtney, 7, have been living with their previous landlord after the Pakenham couple had to sell the Endeavor Hills property Ms Tuck was renting from them. This arrangement is in place until April 1.
Ms Tuck said she felt she had been pigeon-holed as a single mother without any consideration of excellent references.
“I am an older woman who has excellent references and who is clean and quiet,” she said.
Since moving to Pakenham in January, Ms Tuck, who draws a single mothers’ pension, has gained casual work with Pakenham Race Club for race day events and is completing a teachers’ aid course.
She also volunteers at Pakenham Consolidated School. She met local MP Ken Smith last week to see what other options she had to find a home.
Mr Smith said Ms Tuck presented very well, had good references and was seeking the best for her children.
“If I had a house I’d rent it to her,” Mr Smith said.
Mr Smith said he had spoken to agents in the local area who advised him there were six or seven applications for every rental property listed.
Ms Tuck is not alone in her difficulty finding rental accommodation.
Melbourne Affordable Housing chief executive officer Jan Berriman said a lack of supply of rental properties in growth areas like Pakenham was a common problem.
Melbourne Affordable Housing is a not-for-profit housing association regulated by the State Government.
The organisation develops, manages and owns long-term rental stock, which it supplies to the market at a discount.
Ms Berriman said they aimed to provide housing for people on low to moderate incomes who had difficulty competing in the open rental market.
“We have a mix of clients who may be young singles, couples retired on a pension and single parents. We are not providing public housing,” she said.
Melbourne Affordable Housing has a project in Craigieburn to build multiplex units for families, single people and older couples and would like to build homes in Pakenham.
“We rely on assistance from local governments to get these projects underway to help ease the rental supply problems,” Ms Berriman said.
Ms Tuck has been offered a three-bedroom unit in Pakenham.
“Lisa from Ray White has been so helpful,” she said.
Before receiving the good news, Ms Tuck was facing the prospect of returning to Inglewood in Central Victoria where she previously rented a basic home with wood heating and tank water.
“We want to stay in Pakenham. The children have settled well at school . My children enjoy being part of this community,” Ms Tuck said.