It was like a Queen Street sale. They counted down, the doors flew open and the stampede began.

But they didn't have fistfuls of disposable dollars and they weren't looking for bargains – these were Tauranga's disadvantaged and vulnerable looking for somewhere to live, looking for somewhere to rent.

Home is where the heart is – homeless man Jay Lucas bunks down in his car for the night. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

It's a sellers' market – in this instance, one three-bedroom home at $320 a week and two dozen anxious people scrambling over and around each other for the chance.

'You wanna live here?”

I'm house-hunting with a hopeful, a less-than-hopeful hopeful. 'Nuh! But needs must.”

It's a modest functional home in the back of beyond, crammed at the top of a long muddy drive and dodgy-looking neighbours on loud motorbikes.

But desperation breeds compromise. And when the agent asks if she's interested, of course she is.

It's depressing and demeaning. 'Now I have to wait while they sift through the ‘interested', while they do credit and Tenancy Tribunal checks,” she says. 'The agent will draw up a short-list and the owner will choose on advice from the agent

'Even if I get on the short list, it'll go to a couple. Why do they think a couple is a better risk? Relationships crumble.”

It's a lottery – and invariably the result is 'not a winning ticket”.

Isn't she anxious? She should be because she's desperate, she's homeless, she has nowhere to live – she's out on the street.

And it's one of those suffocating, dark, manky wintery afternoons that drains the spirit. She rolls her shoulders this time.

I suspect she's immune to disappointment. 'I can't let things get me down otherwise I'd be hopeless. And that's not an option for mother.” She's very in charge of her emotions.

But what makes a stunningly attractive, well presented, smart law student in her mid-40s and her two boys such undesirable tenants.

This email from Sue Warburton at Prime Rentals is a clue.

'Hi – we have turned down your application as your checks don't meet our requirements.”

Then it cuts deeper. 'You would be wasting your time coming to this viewing today. Kindest regards.”

'I have wasted a lot of time,” says the woman. 'Two hours a day on TradeMe researching, and then viewing and applying. It's time expensive.”

All this around being a mother and her studies. The law degree would drag her out of this black hole, so would her business studies. But the marks have suffered.

'I've been looking for three or four months,” she admits. And last weekend she had to vacate her rented home because she ran out of time.

'I've trawled through 130 potential renters. I've inspected more than 30. I'm now viewing at least one a day.”

But that email, why doesn't she 'meet our requirements”?

Well, she maybe law savvy and halfway through a degree but she's not money smart.

She admits to having been touched by the curse of the credit card. 'Hideous thing,” she huffs.

There was also a ‘bung' business but she insists her financial issues are historic and have been sorted. And that hole in the wall of a previous renter?

'My son is autistic – it goes with the territory – but it was fixed and paid for. When do things stop counting against me?”

Unfortunately, you carry your record with you. But it was a small victory in the Tenancy Tribunal that's the bugbear.

She discovered she was renting a 'leaker” and won $600 compensation from a property owner. 'I resolved an issue but was left with an issue.”

The decision in her favour means she is now perceived as litigious or difficult.

Either way, this mother, caring for two young men, is now holed up in a motel as a last resort. 'I got a deal, which is only $25 more a week than a caravan park.” She has three weeks there - three weeks to find a home.

What can she expect to achieve in three weeks that she couldn't achieve in the previous three or four months of searching for a rental home?

'I mean, the hell? – how did it come to this.”

Did we see a crack in the iron lady? There's just a hint of anger, frustration and desperation. But not hopelessness, of course.

This is the cold, naked reality of the rental home market. She can see her way out in the long run but across town, Jay Lucas can't.

Jay's settling in for the night. Settling in, in his car, behind work in Hewletts Road. The Toyota station wagon has become home for this homeless 30-something after a 13-year marriage soured.

Jay plays games on his phone, has a couple of ‘rollies' and there's a blanket in the back seat when ‘home' freezes over. Next to the blanket is a backpack containing the rest of his life. 'If I just had some cash,” he says.

Jay is paying $430 a week in family support. This reliable, willing provider doesn't begrudge that. But it would leave perhaps $200 a week for rent.

'Even if I could find a place I couldn't afford the four weeks' bond, the one week in advance and the one week's letting fee – nearly $2000 plus GST.”

He despairs. He just wants a ‘warm, safe, happy environment' for his four children, who he has each weekend. But he doesn't have any answers.

'I've been looking for the right rental for four weeks but it's just money, money, money – about $300-$400 for somewhere I could have my children. It's impossible for us in the lower bracket.”

He uses a toilet inside work, has a very ‘supportive and understanding' boss and he showers and eats with friends.

Going home to the marriage is not an option. 'Not for either of us – or the kids.”

Okay – he could flat. 'That's a possibility.” But he needs space to have his children and they need him.

So two victims of an over-inflated under-resourced home rental market in Tauranga. The Weekend Sun has been told they aren't the only ones.

And a home can't be a shelter from the storm if you don't have one.