In Sydney's inner west, a cluster of punks have turned an old, abandoned house with a rusty corrugated iron roof into a cosy home.

While it's nearly impossible to identify how many squatters there are in Sydney, there are over 136,000 unoccupied houses — old and new, left due to circumstance, neglect, or ill-fortune.

With the city facing a major housing crisis, the practice of squatting might become more common.

Even so, it's unlikely that any homeowner's relationship with their squatters would be as close as Franca's.

She's leaving home

Franca — who asked for her real name not to be used for privacy reasons — had been out of the house for 10 years before she found out it was being occupied.

She left in 2006, when she became traumatised after her daughter was taken into foster care.

Her friend, Helen, alerted her to the presence of the squatters, after dropping around to collect Franca's mail.

After years of hoarding, Franca's house was in a state of disorder. ( ABC RN: Leith Alexander )

"I had the key ready to open the door but it wasn't necessary because it was wide open … there was music emanating from inside," she says.

Helen initially reacted with shock. "What are you doing here!?" she asked.

But she quickly realised the squatters, a young family, were in need of a home.

Eventually, Franca went to the house to meet the squatters. She realised there were benefits of having them live there.

So an arrangement was made: shelter in exchange for care-taking.

Hoarding problem

When the family first squatted the house, there was barely room to move.

Franca had hoarding tendencies, and the house was crammed floor-to-ceiling with goods: clothes, toys, barrels of oil, furniture — everything that Franca came across.

"There were books everywhere, stashed in places like above the fridge and beside the fridge," says Piers, one of the squatters.

"And elastic bands stored inside a plastic bag inside another plastic bag, grocery shopping receipts from 1993 and hundreds of blank postcards."

Piers and his friends were seasoned squatters and had come across abandoned hoards before. They took care of the house and gave it order.

Amid Franca's belongings, Piers even found a bank cheque for $172,000. He returned it to her.

"It was such a relief when he found it," Franca says. "We'd just about given up hope of ever finding it."

The squatters and Franca have become friends. ( ABC RN: Leith Alexander )

The squatters have also repaired parts of the house and, after living without hot water for more than a year, installed a hot water system.

Franca has also been able to call on them to help move furniture and give her lifts.

Mutually beneficial

As for the squatters, it's not just about the free accommodation.

"One of the beautiful things about this house is the diverse relationships with people you wouldn't usually run into in your own social scene," Piers says.

"Getting to know Franca through the house as much as through our relationship: that's been an amazing process."

Another squatter, Zed, says she loves it when Franca visits. "She's full of life and she's always telling us stories."

Franca plans to move back into the house one day, possibly with the squatters.

Until then, she continues to live with her family in south Sydney.

And with the squatters' help, the house now looks almost tidy — so long as you don't look in the back room.