The renters caught in Byron Bay region’s housing crisis: ‘I feel like there’s a fire under my arse’

Bessminda Groves and her dog Flea at home in Mullumbimby, near Byron Bay, in northern NSW. The 28-year-old artist and cafe store manager is having to move again – for the seventh time in the past three years. Photograph: David Maurice Smith/Oculi

Bessminda Groves is moving soon. Ever since she learned six months ago that she was likely to have to leave her current place, she has spent every day searching for somewhere new to live in Byron shire’s competitive rental market.

“This is just part of what you have to do,” Groves says. “I know how long it takes to get into another space. When having to look, I really feel like there’s a fire under my arse.”