Barry’s* life wasn’t always like this. He worked for years in a well-paid role as an account manager with Telstra and had a mortgage on the house where he lived.

But when he was “restructured” out of a job Barry couldn’t meet his mortgage repayments and life has felt like a downhill slide ever since. The bank foreclosed on his house, he moved from one crummy private rental to the next and ended up sleeping on a bench on Swanston Street.

Rooming house outreach worker Catherine Dyer in Barry's* room at his rooming house. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Now Barry's home is a tiny room - one of 14 - at the rear of a dilapidated weatherboard rooming house in Melbourne's north. His possessions are stacked so high it’s difficult to get through the door. The roof leaks over his bed and the lock is broken.

The house's volatile and intimidating landlord has made Barry’s life a misery - including throwing his possessions into a skip and assaulting him - and for all of this, Barry pays $200 a week in rent.