Nat Barr’s emotional plea for young family
Sunrise host Natalie Barr has issued an emotional plea after one family’s heartbreaking situation moved her close to tears.
Adelaide-based dad Taylor Hosking shared his moving story on Sunrise, revealing the devastating impact of the rental crisis on his young family, who may be forced to live on the streets after more than 50 unsuccessful rental applications.
Hosking - who has four children and a fifth on the way - shared that his family were pushed to look for a new home after their rent was increased from $430 to $600 a week.
“We’re like at that point now it’s like, what do we do?” Hosking told Barr.
“It’s either we feed the kids or we pay our rent or we pay the rent and we, you know, we can’t even feed the kids.”
He explained that the young family often gets judged “straight off the bat” for having “a bunch of kids”, and despite having good references, they’ve had no luck in finding a new home.
Barr noted that it must be a “ very emotional time” for them and asked how he and his wife, Shay, were coping.
Hosking opened up about his tragic loss, which almost moved Barr to tears.
“It’s a very special day as well today because our son Orlando passed away on Father’s Day last year,” he said.
“So if he was still here with us, he’d be one today. But we just go day by day and the kids are what keeps us strong and all together, mate.”
The family had worn a “Team Orlando” shirt for the segment, which tugged on Barr’s heartstrings.
“This is just the face of the cost of living crisis in this country,” she said, holding back tears.
“We are here to help, we are going to do everything we can to help you and your family.”
She then asked anyone who was willing to help the family to contact the Sunrise team.
“We are so sorry you are in this predicament,” she added.
Earlier in the segment, Hosking also told Barr that he had until October to find a new home for his family.
“I don’t know, just pray and we hope we work with all the agencies and all the government and everything,” he said.
“Hopefully something happens or someone can help us.
“But I’ve been working with them, I’ve been going to my appointments, doing everything I can and to even be told like there’s no magic wand, there’s no house to give you, [and] the best they might be able to do is put us up in a motel or something.
“And how do we have four kids, two adults and a newborn baby in a motel? It’s impossible.”
Images: Seven