Whole families are being forced to couch-surf and live in uncertainty, as the extent of Australia's public housing crisis is revealed.
Single mum Nicole has been left on the waiting list for a whopping 18 years - and she and her kids are being forced to move out of their latest residence, with nowhere to go.
"I'm more desperate now than what I've ever been," she said.
The Melbourne rental she and her family have been living in has been sold, and the family has already overstayed the end-of-August deadline.
Relying on Centrelink benefits and with living costs soaring, she has been squeezed out of the private property market.
When she first put her name on the public housing list, her son Caydyn was two.
He's now 20, and Nicole has seen no change.
After 18 years of waiting and countless calls and emails to the housing department, she says she feels forgotten.
"They don't push anything that's older, the older cases," she said.
"They just keep bringing in the new ones, leaving us on the backburner all the time."
Another single mum, Betul, is couch-surfing with her 11-year-old daughter.
She said without the help of friends, they would be sleeping on the streets.
Betul is desperate for her daughter's sake.
"I don't want her to go through this," she said.
"I want her to have her own room, her own privacy, but she can't."
The latest figures reveal that in New South Wales, there are 52,932 cases waiting for public housing.
In Victoria, there are 50,145.
Queensland has 22,202 households waiting, one third of them with children.
South Australia has 20,324 applicants waiting.
The lists in Western Australia (13,708), the Northern Territory (4353), Tasmania (3330) and the ACT (2359) are shorter, in line with the smaller populations.
The growing backlog puts the burden on not-for-profit organisations like the Salvation Army, who are providing extra crisis accommodation.
Australian Council of Social Services CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said the waiting lists were crushing people.
"If you're couch-surfing, you know that you're really able to be told to go anytime day or night," she said.
"That sense of security is lost too. We've got to get it back."
Victorian Shadow Minister for Housing Tim Smith said the government weren't building enough to keep up with demand.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said there was a high demand for housing across the state.
"We encourage those applying for social housing options to consider a full range of options available," the spokesperson said.
"This includes expanding the areas they would consider living in, working with dedicated housing support providers and considering programs like the Private Renters Assistance Program that can help low-income individuals and families get into a private renter's market."
