If ever there was an ideal tenant, Francine Hewlett might just be that.
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She sees a rental as no different to owning a home in that she applies just as much care to the upkeep.
That’s because it’s home and so it’s no surprise when she speaks in terms of “my pride and joy. I don’t allow the little ones to mark the walls or do anything like that.”
It is an attitude she clearly has shown in the past and it has served her well.
But in an unfortunate development, all the care in the world could not prevent her losing her last rental property for the simple reason that the landlord decided to sell the property.
With a glowing reference from the real estate agent, it might have been a given that she could find a new place without delay.
But as has been the experience of so many others on the Border in recent times, that has not happened.
Indeed, she has had dozens of rental applications rejected and is greatly upset at coming out of hospital for impending breast cancer surgery to more of the same.
Her family of five has had to make do with a small cabin at a caravan park for six months, but she wants to get them into a more appropriate home.
Much has been said in these columns before about the region’s hidden homelessness, a result of the coming together of issues ranging from mental illness to domestic violence to an ever-rising cost of living.
It all means that any one of us could find ourselves in the position faced by the Hewlett family if something was to go awry in our lives.
As has been said before, many people are only a few weekly pays away from losing their home – whether that be not being able to pay the mortgage or pay the rent.
Beyond Housing chief executive Celia Adams says the region is “a landlord’s market”, so even if you tick all the boxes it is not an unlikely scenario that another applicant will be picked over you.
There is no simple solution as creating more housing stock to fill the widening gaps takes a great deal of planning and years of work, both in the public and private sector.
But at the very least situations such as that faced by the Hewlett family should concentrate the community’s focus on finding new, creative solutions to somehow find a way to alleviate the pressure in the short- to medium-term.
And that’s because we all deserve a secure place to call home.