Our findings highlight a variety of implications for pandemicinformed housing , social and urban policy and research . First , the research revealed high levels of turbulence among share households , with 39 % reporting that either they or another member of their household had moved homes between April and June 2020 . That figure is in comparison to the 14 % of Australians and 35 % of Australian renters that move each year on average ( Australian Bureau of Statistics , 2016 ) . Our data point to a broad range of reasons for these movements , including caring responsibilities ; work opportunities ; returning to family homes ; moving to reduce housing costs when housemates moved out ; leaving to avoid mounting tensions and conflict between housemates ; and returning to countries or states of origin before borders closed . These movements , mostly instigated by the pandemic , represent a dramatic pattern of migration among this cohort and additional research is needed to track the short and long - term impacts of these movements . The geographic clustering of share houses , and low - income rental households more generally , is likely to cause clusters of vacant homes and/or clusters of households in high housing stress in the short to medium term . Similarly , given that 16 % of respondents were living in overcrowded households and 24 % reported feeling stressed by their lack of control over their domestic space , there are clear implications for greater risk of virus transmission in crowded spaces and mental health outcomes for households coping with spatial and interpersonal conflicts . Such challenges are likely to be common to share households internationally .