Since her rental was destroyed by a fire, Cyndy Kitt Vogelsang has spent the last 12 months couch surfing and has struggled to secure a new home.
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Cyndy had lived above Lyrebird Dry Cleaners on Kinghorne Street in Nowra, until the complex which also housed a mobile repair and tattoo shop, tragically erupted in a blaze on January 28, 2021.
She was safely removed in time before her apartment was smoked out, and has only been back once to retrieve her belongings.
"I woke up to a screaming fire alarm and a flat full of smoke at 1:30 in the morning," Cyndy said.
"My neighbour and I were lucky to get out alive."
Thanks to the generosity of her friends and the wider community, Cyndy has had a roof over her head and a place to store her sewing machines while she searched for a new place to live.
But with rentals in scarce supply and skyrocketing in price, Cyndy feels there is no other option but to close her Berry Street shop in Nowra, and move back to her hometown.
"When I started looking online at places, nothing was coming up," she said. "There was nothing that was even feasible to to apply for.
"I've applied for so many places but real estate agents just never got back to me."
Cyndy opened her shop, Anne Bonny's Locker in 2018, which she describes as part-store, part-museum.
She sells her art, textiles and parts for vintage sewing machines, and also teaches others how to service them.
Many have taken to social media to express how the shop holds a special place in their heart, and that the region will miss her unique expertise.
Cyndy grew up in Melbourne, but moved from St Kilda as rents eventually became too expensive.
She found herself in Goulburn, and after travelling along the South Coast to sell her art at markets, she eventually gravitated to Nowra four years ago.
"There's just something about the Shoalhaven River," she said. "Every time I crossed it, I felt a pull."
It's bittersweet, and a little ironic, Cyndy says, as she now finds rental prices in St Kilda comparable to those in Nowra.
"It was just last week that I was realising I could get a two-bedroom flat on Fitzroy Street for $30 cheaper than a flat that was advertised as being two bedroom in Nowra," she said.
Rents in the Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands have increased by 13 per cent in 12 months, according to data from CoreLogic.
Over the last few years, director of Ray White Nowra, Callala Bay and Culburra Beach Craig Hadfield said he has seen rents blown out by 20 to 30 per cent.
"And it's not going to get any better," he said.
"Because nobody is addressing the major issue, which is supply."
Cyndy fears Nowra could lose more shops due to the regional housing crisis.
"I think that's going to happen, and the people who own property in Nowra are going to think about what sort of town they want to live in," Cyndy said.
For now, Cyndy has begun the process of culling items in her store to prepare for the move back to St Kilda. She will stay in Nowra for at least another six months until she secures a rental.
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