When 42-year-old Petrina Haworth first bought a little black notebook to keep track of her rental inspections, she never thought she would fill it.
Ms Haworth and her 25-year-old daughter, Taylah, have inspected more than 130 houses since being told two months ago their lease was not being renewed.
They are due to move out of their Wilsonton home today in Queensland's Toowoomba region.
Ms Haworth said the search for a new home had made it difficult to look after Taylah, who she described as having an "alphabet soup" of conditions, including epilepsy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
"Every time I get a rejection … it makes me want to cry," she said.
"It's really difficult for trying to provide appropriate care for Taylah, while looking at six, seven houses a day and then spending hours trying to do the applications as well as trying to pack up the house."
Ms Haworth said her rental applications had been continually knocked back because the rent would be greater than 30 per cent of the income she received on a carer's payment .
"I've never ever had an issue in my life finding a rental when I've needed to," she said.
"I thought [at first] maybe a couple of weeks' worth of looking for houses, but this is completely foreign to me."
Welfare increase to help … a little
The 42-year-old will benefit from a boost to the Commonwealth Rent Assistance payment in this week's federal budget.
The maximum rate of the payment will be raised by 15 per cent — or up to $31 a fortnight — from September this year in what the government is calling the largest increase to the program in more than three decades.
Ms Haworth said the increase was "pretty good" but still would not meet the criteria for most rental homes in Toowoomba.
She said "knowing that we don't have anywhere stable" had affected her daughter's mental health.
"The longer this continues, the more that continues to impact on her and I worry that one of these days I'm going to lose her."
The Queensland Council of Social Services (QCOSS) said about 300,000 Queenslanders were in housing stress.
Chief executive Amiee McVeigh welcomed the increase to the payments but had hoped for more.
"It is unfortunately not enough to address the widespread housing stress that so many Queenslanders are experiencing," she said.
"Trying to find a home is an impossible battle for many Queenslanders. For Queenslanders with a disability who need accessible housing, it's even harder."
Ms McVeigh also called for further rental reforms from the state government and for increased construction of social housing.
Federal Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth was contacted for comment.
She has previously defended the government's budget and said it was responsible and targeted.
"The Albanese Labor government will always strive to do more to help Australians in need and we will keep assessing income support budget-to-budget as we said we would," Ms Rishworth said.
Payment review needed
Carers Australia has called for a review into the adequacy of the Carer Payment and Carer Allowance.
"Carers Australia remains concerned that even more will experience financial stress and be unable to access the basics of living for the people they care for or themselves," chief executive Alison Brook said.
"This would undoubtedly lead to poorer health and wellbeing outcomes, when many carers are already struggling."
Finding a temporary fix
For Petrina Haworth and Taylah, the future is uncertain.
As a temporary solution, they will be sharing a single room at a family member's house.
"At least it's a roof over our head," Ms Haworth said.
"It's going to be very cramped and it's going to be difficult and I just I really don't know where to go from there."
She said many people, carers and those living with disabilities, were "not in a good place right now".
"We don't need to be kicked while we're down."
