Tenancy support services in regional NSW claim they are being overwhelmed with calls for help as a growing number of tenants are evicted without cause.
The price of rent in the regions has increased by an average of 13 per cent in the past year, fuelled by a mass exodus from capital cities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The demographic shift has put significant strain on regional housing supply and made it more difficult for local residents to secure a lease.
Phoenix van Dyke from the Illawarra and South Coast Tenants' Advice Service said staff had been inundated with calls for help.
"Yesterday during a three-hour advice shift we were able to advise 15 people, but we had 41 callers who did not get through," she said.
Ms van Dyke and her three-person team advise tenants from the Illawarra down to the Victorian border.
The region has a serious shortage of long-term rental accommodation.
The latest data from the Real Estate Institute of NSW reveals vacancy rates on the South Coast are the lowest in the state, at just 0.2 per cent.
Calls to ban 'no grounds' evictions
Ms van Dyke said most of the people who needed help had been evicted without cause and were unable to find a new home.
"Many, many people who call have received termination notices and mostly 90-day, no-grounds notices," she said.
"Often they find that after they are evicted the landlord puts it up for Airbnb or raises the rent significantly.
Australia is one of the few developed countries that allows 'no grounds' evictions.
Earlier this year, Victoria joined Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory in banning landlords from evicting tenants without a valid reason.
The NSW opposition said in the current market regional residents needed to be better protected, and called on the government to change the law.
"This is self-evidently a problem," said Labor's housing spokesperson, Rose Jackson
"If you have done absolutely nothing wrong and you have signed a lease, there is no reason why you should be kicked out of that property only so the landlord can increase the rent in a skyrocketing property market.
Ms Jackson asked Deputy Premier Paul Toole about 'no grounds' evictions in the Upper House earlier this month.
Mr Toole admitted he had heard stories about tenants caught in "terrible situations", but said the issue crossed a number of portfolios and he would have to discuss it with his colleagues.
"We think that it is only fair that the government comes to the table and doesn't just acknowledge there is a regional housing crisis in NSW, but actually does something about it," Ms Jackson said.
