Belinda Timmins is a mother of three who faced a rent increase of an extra $65 a week back in July. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

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Melbourne tenants are resorting to buying tents out of fear of becoming homeless as rents continue to soar across the state.

Belinda Timmins was recently faced with a $60 a week rent rise but as a single mother of three, couldn’t afford it.

She was honest to her landlord of seven years about her financial situation and managed to negotiate the increase down to $40 extra a week.

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But Ms Timmins said she was still stretched beyond her means, paying “more than half” her salary on the rent of her Cranbourne home.

“I had to sell a car to buy a cheaper car just to have that little float in the bank to be able to pay the bills,” Ms Timmins said.

“I had to shuffle around my electricity and gas plan just for that.

“I couldn’t move even if I wanted to, it’s not an option. If you think about the cost of moving, the cost of giving the four weeks in advance, I couldn’t do it.”

Belinda Timmins is terrified of keeping a roof over her kids heads. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

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Ms Timmins said she bought a rooftop tent for her car because of how real the threat of homelessness felt.

“That was the only possible option in my head knowing that when my lease came through, looking at that price,” she said.

“I was lucky to be re-offered another lease, a lot of people don’t get that.”

She was now hoping for rental costs to fall to an affordable rate, but didn’t believe they would.

It comes as new PropTrack data shows many Melbourne tenants are scrounging for extra coin to cover $100+ weekly rent rises across the city.

See how much your suburb’s median rent has gone up by in just one year.

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