Home at last

By Lia Bichel
A HOUSING crisis in the City of Casey left a family of 10 on the brink of homelessness.
Until Tuesday, stay-at-home dad Keith Knoppien and his wife Marlene, a childcare worker, feared they would have to live on the streets after submitting several unsuccessful rental applications.
The couple, who have eight children aged three to 18, lived in a rented Berwick house for seven and a half years before receiving an eviction notice two months ago because the owners wanted to repossess the house.
The couple went to more than 70 house inspections, but had no luck in their applications until they received good news on Tuesday.
“We submitted an application for a rental house in Rowville on Monday and got the call this morning,” Mr Knoppien said.
Manager of the Cranbourne Information Support Service (CISS) Leanne Petrides said the Knoppien family was not alone in their struggle.
“There is a major housing crisis in Casey. There is currently about a one per cent vacancy rate in Casey. It needs to be at least four per cent vacancy rate for the rental market to be viable,” Ms Petrides said.
“We are seeing more and more people who are in housing stress, that means they are paying more than 50 per cent of their income in rent or mortgage. Many people risk losing their property because they can’t maintain their housing payment. The housing stress is driving local families to seek support from primary agencies like ours.”
Mr Knoppien said the family had a couple of short-term options, but was scared the family would ultimately end up on the streets.
“We thought about moving the family into two caravans at a caravan park, but that would cost us a fortune,” he said.
“Another option was moving in with my wife’s niece, who has two children of her own. She has offered to share her house for a couple of months. But that would have been 10 of us and four of them in a three bedroom house.”
Mr Knoppien said the process had taken a toll on the family’s well-being, but now they have a sense of relief.
“We get the keys on Saturday. It feels great,” he said.
“It’s not that we didn’t want to leave, it’s just that we had nowhere to go. We had looked everywhere- Berwick, Narre Warren, Rowville. It was depressing and stressful for the family. I never thought (the situation) would happen to us.”