When 19-year-old Jayde Pratt found out she was pregnant, all she felt was fear.
The Shepparton teen had been living at the local youth foyer ever since her relationship with her mother deteriorated.
But now she was expecting a baby, she knew she'd have to find new accommodation.
And, living in a city with a notoriously tight and unaffordable rental market, that seemed pretty much impossible.
For six months, Ms Pratt desperately searched for a house in Shepparton and submitted more than 100 applications.
But one by one, they were rejected.
It wasn't until she was in hospital, the day after she gave birth to Kye, that she got a call — the foyer had found her a house.
Five months on, Mr Pratt and her son have settled into their new home and, at last, they have hope for the future.
Following her experience, Ms Pratt is calling for more social housing in Shepparton and urging acceptance of those who need it.
"You don't really know what someone's going through," she says.
"Just to judge them because they live in social housing is wrong.
Social housing vote looms
Tomorrow, Greater Shepparton City Council will decide whether to sell or gift airspace above a council-owned car park in Shepparton's CBD for a social housing complex.
Council was first approached about the build in late 2019 by social housing providers BeyondHousing and Wintringham.
It was hoped the development would help address the city's growing homeless crisis.
Shepparton has the highest rates of homelessness in regional Victoria.
More than 1,500 households in Shepparton are languishing on lengthy waiting lists for social housing, with almost 900 awaiting priority access.
Sarah Toohey is chief executive of the Community Housing Industry Association of Victoria (CHIA Vic), Victoria's peak body for social housing.
Ms Toohey says the situation in Shepparton is dire.
Proposal cops backlash
But while most agree social housing is desperately needed, there's conflict over where it should be built.
After calling for community feedback, council received around 760 submissions and heard in-person presentations from almost 40 people.
Shepparton ACE Secondary College, which would be next door to the build, is among those most concerned.
Initially, they said they feared the development could pose a safety risk to vulnerable students by exposing them to "high-risk adults".
The college has also expressed ongoing concerns the four-storey development will overshadow the school's playground and block its fire exits.
Stoush over fire exits
But last week council wrote to ACE College, saying they had discovered something while considering the school's submission about the social housing proposal.
The school's fire exits did not meet building codes, and therefore could not be used in the event of an emergency evacuation.
Ms Rose criticised council for bringing this up days out from the social housing vote, claiming they were just trying to find a "legal loophole" to discount the school's opposition to the build.
"This was no problem to the council until they decided they wanted to sell off the car park," she says.
She says the school will ignore the warning.
'They're already here'
Beyond Housing chief executive Celia Adams says if council rejects the proposal it will have ongoing ramifications.
"I'm concerned that if council votes against the project — despite all the evidence from the reports they commissioned being quite positive — that sets an unfortunate precedent for future developments," she says.
She argues community concern is misguided.
"The people we house in social housing are people that already live in our communities," she says.
"But by providing safe, affordable housing, it gives them security of tenure, safety, and hope for the future."
She says social housing will actually make the CBD safer.
"When people are living in and around a CBD location, it maintains that ongoing level of supervision," she says.
Claims social housing language has been 'disgusting'
Wintringham deputy chief executive Michael Deschepper says language being used to describe social housing tenants has, at times, "been quite disgusting".
He says the community's fears are due to "an outdated, unfair stereotype" about homelessness.
But Ms Rose says it's not the case.
"We have made a lot of comments about a four-storey development in that particular position."
But for people facing the same struggles as Ms Pratt, a vote against the proposal may mean more time wasted. And more days out in the cold.
"Especially single mums can't get a house because real estate has been so tough and the prices are going up," she says.
