Single mum Amanda's harmless purchase hid painful secret that followed her for years

No one gave Amanda a second glance as she approached the checkout, scanned a two-man tent, and paid.

With a five-year-old in hand and a baby on her hip, it didn't seem like an unusual purchase for the young Central Coast mum. 

But she knew the truth: that tent was about to be the family's home.

READ MORE: Killer hidden in Sydney mum's car selfie was spotted by a hairdresser

"It's so hard, and it's degrading, and you feel so ashamed," Amanda tells 9honey of being made homeless in her early 20s.

It had started with a notice from her landlord saying her lease was being terminated because he wanted to renovate the unit.

A single mum of two, Amanda tried to secure new housing but kept getting knocked back.

"A real estate agent said, 'to be honest, if a two-income family is applying and you're applying, the landlord's not even going to look at your application,'" she reveals.

On the day her lease ended, she stuffed all their clothes into a suitcase and headed to the shopping centre.

"I got the cheapest two-man tent I could buy," she says.

"Every night, I would just tip the suitcase of clothes I had onto the floor to make it soft. We didn't have a mattress."

Dinner was cooked on the public barbecues at local playgrounds and her daughters thought it was all a big adventure, but Amanda was miserable and ashamed.

She'd had a difficult childhood and from the day her girls were born, she swore they wouldn't experience the same hardships she did. But staying strong for them put huge strain on her mental health.

Young and isolated, Amanda didn't know what support services were available, let alone how to access them. She struggled silently until she was finally approved for a unit.

If only the story ended there.

Over the next decade, Amanda and her daughters experienced homelessness more times than she'd like to count.

READ MORE: 'When we saw the bill, we freaked out': Mum's horror after health battle

In one instance, the single mum was told she'd be evicted if her violent ex returned and damaged the property she was renting, "but it's very difficult to stop an angry man kicking your front door in".

Other times, financial issues or family strife left Amanda and her kids without a place to sleep. The cycle just kept repeating.

Amanda fought hard and learned about support services she could turn to when safe housing fell through, but there were always more roadblocks.

Over 122,000 Australians experience homelessness on any given night according to ABS data, putting massive pressure on already overburdened housing and support services.

Domestic and family violence, financial issues, lack of affordable and social housing, and mental health challenges are among the most common causes of homelessness, and more Aussies are struggling than ever in the current housing and economic crisis.

But with so many Aussies needing support, accessing long-term help is difficult.

Amanda could usually only secure emergency accommodation for a few nights at a time, which was incredibly hard when you're trying to raise two little girls.

Meanwhile, her daughters were starting to understand that their experiences weren't normal.

"That was when the guilt really kicked in," Amanda says, and it stuck around.

Eventually her girls were old enough to move into places of their own, but she was stuck in a cycle of homelessness and could see no way out.

By 2017, she'd "given up on life".

A few years later she fled domestic violence again and ended up living in a caravan park.

WATCH: How to spot domestic abuse

Amanda hadn't washed her clothes in days when an orange van rolled in and changed everything.

It was a mobile laundry service run by Orange Sky and volunteers called Amanda over, urging her to throw on a load and stay for a chat. 

"It was the first time I'd actually had a conversation with someone in a very long time," she says emotionally.

Aussies experiencing homelessness often feel isolated and fear judgement, but the Orange Sky volunteer spoke to Amanda like an equal. 

"He didn't make me feel worthless, he didn't make me feel like he was looking down on me. He seemed to genuinely care," she says.

In the space of a single conversation, her hope for a better future was quietly reignited. 

What she did with it is nothing short of amazing.

After securing safe, affordable and secure housing with Pacific Link Housing, Amanda did a cadetship with the Community Housing Industry Association, received on-the-job training, and is now a tenancy manager for Pacific Link.

She also returned to Orange Sky once she was housed, this time as a volunteer, and her life is dedicated to supporting other Aussies doing it tough.

"It brings tears of joy to your eyes, to see it and experience it from the other side," she says.

READ MORE: Doctor's mistake with Mia's diagnosis wasn't discovered for 10 years

Her daughters, now 24 and 20, couldn't be more proud but Amanda can't solve Australia's homelessness crisis alone.

New research from Orange Sky shows over half of Aussies are struggling to make ends meet amid the ongoing financial and housing crises.

Two in five have already had to moderately or significantly change their lifestyle to deal with the cost of living crisis, and the risk of falling into a negative housing situation is high.

Ahead of National Homelessness Week (August 5-11), they're calling on Aussies to donate cash or time to vital homelessness support services, so other families don't have to experience what Amanda's did. For more information, click here.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.