A roof over your head — it's the basic need a mother wants to be met for her child.
But for 22-year-old Tamia Hood it seems impossible.
The GunaiKurnai single mum is living in an old pop-top caravan on the banks of Bung Yarnda, the lake that surrounds the Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust in East Gippsland.
Her four-year-old son Grayson sleeps with her, while her mother, Terylene, sleeps at the other end of the van to make sure the pair are safe in the isolated area.
"I wouldn't want to be down here by myself, I just definitely wouldn't feel safe," Tamia says.
Tamia has been waiting for a rental property on the Victorian Housing Register, for people waiting for social housing, for two years.
In November, she was moved to a motel room as temporary crisis accommodation in what was previously the Nowa Nowa pub.
That was until she and two other Indigenous families received a text message, asking them to be out by Christmas Eve due to a "failed inspection" by East Gippsland Shire Council.
The hotel owner told the ABC the failed inspection was due to inadequate wastewater treatment onsite. East Gippsland Shire declined to comment due to confidentiality surrounding its environmental health inspections.
Tamia grabbed her belongings and her social worker found her temporary accommodation at a motor inn in Lakes Entrance.
But a week later, on New Year's Eve, it was time to move again because the motel needed the rooms for incoming tourists.
Luckily, her mother had an old caravan they could turn into a makeshift home. It has no cooking facilities or bathroom.
Her grandmother lives at the top of the hill, so Tamia, Grayson, and Terylene make the trek whenever they need to shower or use the toilet.
"I have to make a fire every time we want to eat … I have to go and chop the wood and start up the fire, it's not the best," Tamia says.
They previously lived in her grandmother's two-bedroom unit with seven other people.
But the situation became untenable.
Other than fearing for the future without a home, Tamia also fears welfare services may take her son away if she doesn't find a suitable home.
"I'll probably have no choice but to give my son away to his grandparents," she says.
"And that's not really something I want to do.
"I would rather him have a more stable living situation because that's been my main worry."
Last week she was again offered temporary accommodation.
This time, it was in Bairnsdale and lasted six days before she was told her stay would not be extended.
She was offered another motel in Metung, a half hour from Lake Tyers, but has no way to get there.
Bung Yarnda — also known as Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust — is about 20 minutes' drive from the seaside tourist town of Lakes Entrance.
Tamia says seeing all the empty holiday houses while she has nowhere to live is heart-wrenching.
"When I go to the shops, I see a heap of empty houses," Tamia says.
"Empty houses that have been like that for ages, and they can't move someone like me in who kind of needs it urgently."
Aboriginal Housing Board Victoria director strategy and performance Lisa Briggs told the ABC Victorian Indigenous people experienced the highest rates of homelessness in the country, with First Nations people 10 times more likely to be homeless.
"It's a national shame," Ms Briggs says.
"In the Gippsland area, it's challenging because they have limited housing — social housing, community housing, and private rental are almost non-existent.
"So you're really limited within that area, which will mean, in some cases, Tamia might have to think about where she needs to be located in the short term, which is not practical because all of her support base is within her local community."
Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust owns and rents out houses on the site. It also has a long waiting list.
Ms Briggs hopes Indigenous organisations will take part in the Big Housing Build that will allow partnered organisations to apply for funding to buy or build housing.
Homes Victoria is a new name for the state's housing department. A department spokesperson said 10 per cent of $5.3 billion being spent on building social housing will be allocated to First Nations people.
"We know there is an urgent need for social and affordable housing right across Victoria," the spokesperson said.
"To date, $15.5 million has been invested in the East Gippsland local government area under the Big Housing Build and other social housing programs, creating 46 new homes."
