Australian woman leaves city for countryside in house without electricity or water

Unable to pay her rent in Sydney, Alys McDonough left the city for the outback and bought a dilapidated house with no electricity or water.

Alys wipes her face with a wet towel, then wraps it around the neck of her dog, which is panting on a hot February day in Western Australia. "This is my air conditioner, also known as a muslin towel," she says proudly.

The temperature outside was 42 degrees Celsius, making Alys’s tin-roofed, air-conditioned home in Norseman, a mining town in Western Australia about 3,000 kilometers from Sydney, scorching. The area had no electricity or running water, forcing Alys to search for water outside.

“Life here is like camping, except with a roof over your head,” she said. Even so, her roof is riddled with holes and patched with plywood.

Alys in front of her house in Norseman, a town in Western Australia. Photo: ABC — Alys in front of her house in Norseman, a town in Western Australia. Photo: *ABC*

She couldn't afford to hire an electrician to renovate the house, so she did everything herself, with the optimism of someone who had worked in comedy production.

"Most people want their house to have plaster ceilings, air conditioning, running water, things I don't have," she said. But all she needed was sunlight.

When the electrician told her the house was off-grid, Alys didn't lose heart. She'd watched 10 seasons of "Alone" before buying the house, so she was prepared. She bought solar panels and batteries, embraced the off-grid lifestyle, and was happy to no longer have to pay utility bills.

"Electricity is no longer a problem. Money, if I can make money by putting solar panels in the sky, I will be very happy," she said.

Money has always been a stressor for Alys and that's why she moved from Sydney to the Western Australian outback.

"All the money I earn goes to rent. I want to stop paying rent," she said. "I looked online and found the cheapest house in Australia, which is this one."

She spent nearly $8,000 on the house in 2007. The house may have been one of the cheapest on the market at the time, but now, there are still many abandoned homes on the market.

Alys and her dog live in Australia's cheapest house. Photo: CNN — Alys and her dog live in Australia's cheapest house. Photo: *CNN*

The Institute of Regional Australia says there are more than 500,000 unoccupied homes in the region. Many need to be reassessed to ensure they are up to standard. Low prices are also a draw for people like Alys to leave big cities for the country, a trend that has increased by 12% since pre-pandemic levels.

“People are looking for different ways of living, different ways of working, they are looking for new models of living,” said Liz Ritchie, chief executive of the Institute for Regional Australia.

Alys found her ideal home in the Norseman outback. “I had a home, it didn’t matter where it was,” she says.

While Alys is happy with her living situation, Western Australian Council of Social Services acting chief executive Rachel Siewert said the government has not done much to support people who want to renovate substandard homes.

"Unfortunately, there are still many people living in substandard housing and they are struggling to pay their bills," Siewert said. "In the harsh climate conditions we are facing now, living in substandard housing is very difficult."

In 2012, Alys decided to sell her remote home and move back to the city of Perth. However, last year, she was unable to continue paying the $300-a-week rent and was evicted from her rented home, facing the risk of becoming homeless.

“Having a dog and limited funds, I thought, ‘What can I do?’” she said. “I ended up buying the old house and not having to worry about the deteriorating real estate situation anymore.”

Alys's home battery. Photo: ABC — Alys's home battery. Photo: *ABC*

Alys spent more than $8,000 of her savings to buy her old house in Norseman and buy some furniture. She was happy to be free from the security deposit, rent, monthly utility bills, real estate agent fees, and customer complaints of a job she hated.

“Working so hard and spending all your money on rent and other expenses is not good for your mental health,” Alys says. “When you don’t have to worry about all these things, it takes the pressure off.”

Struggling with the housing and living costs crisis, Alys found a light at the end of the tunnel, powered by solar power. She was happy to be home, doing some online work. The only thing that bothered Alys was that she couldn't afford a Netflix subscription.

Hong Hanh (According to ABC )

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