They cleared part of the block to make room for the house, and a water tank was installed close by to where Edward and his wife envisioned a vegetable patch and gardens, a place for their kids to grow up.

Never in his mind would he envision spending four long, cold Tasmanian winters, where temperatures only reach 11 degrees and dip to below freezing, in a caravan and tent.

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"You can get through winter here, but it gets pretty cold, we are all in bed by 6pm rugged up in blankets because it gets so cold," he said.

"We have a small generator, but that becomes another bill."

The solid home of his dreams has become a pipe dream, with the cost of living, building and building materials locking Mr Whiteside and his sons out of the property market and leaving them effectively homeless.

To make matters worse, Mr Whiteside, 61, has lung cancer, which may have spread to his bowels, and requires intensive treatment in Launceston.

While being treated, he has access to the accommodation at the Spurr Wing, which puts a temporary roof over his family's heads.

However, when he is no longer being treated, he and his boys car pool or taxi the 40-minute trek from Launceston to the driveway of their home at Weetah and then walk 1.5-kilometres up a gravel track to their van and tents.

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"We have to get groceries every three days, so we travel back into town, buy the groceries and walk it all back to the van," Mr Whiteside said.

The driveway to the Whiteside's campsite is riddled with large potholes, and only four-wheel-drive cars can access it easily.

Mr Whiteside doesn't have a car but does have some support from his family, but they don't always have a vehicle available.

"I have to rely on the boys to help me, they carry the gas and the groceries, we walk back to the camp, but I have to stop every 50 metres to catch my breath," he said.

Lung cancer has stripped Mr Whiteside of his lung capacity, and he can't walk far without stopping. He said radiation and chemotherapy treatment has also left him nauseous and weak.

To add insult to injury, all three of them also only recently recovered from COVID-19.

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"Last week we all had it, I was lying in bed for four days, I couldn't do anything," Mr Whiteside said.

The threat and fear of COVID have left Mr Whiteside with no option but to keep his boys home from school.

Getting to school is also problematic because the boys must use a rural bus service to take them into Deloraine and back, but it means they can't help their dad during the day.

Mr Whiteside said he tried not to get down on his circumstances and stressed he knew he wasn't the only person doing it tough.

"You have to try and get on with things, I try not to let it get me down too much, but it is frustrating. It's frustrating that it is so hard all of the time," Mr Whiteside said.

However, a chance encounter with snake re-locator Bert Bannister has changed the Whiteside family's fates, at least temporarily, after Mr Bannister told his daughter about them.

"We had a snake in the van, which was pretty scary. While I was being treated we had to leave the van for six weeks and while we were gone rats took up residence in the van," he said.

"The snakes have followed the rats."

While they were bunking down for the night, one of Mr Whiteside's sons noticed the slithery visitor crawling in the van's bedroom.

"The boys are too scared now to sleep in the van, they are sleeping in the tent, so there's three of us cramped in a swag overnight," he said.

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However, after Mr Bannister attended the property to remove the snake, he told his daughter Tamika, owner of The Spotted Quoll.

Horrified by their conditions, Tamika started a GoFundMe to raise funds to help cover the cost of living and the price of a new campervan for the Whitesides. The GoFundMe had reached $22,232 of a $30,000 goal as of Monday afternoon.

"I am using my platform within the local Tasmanian community to help a family that has slipped through the cracks of our so-called civilised society; this is a story hard to believe, but true, nevertheless," Tamika said on the GoFundMe page.

"My goal is to raise enough for them to buy a suitable caravan (a home) with essential warm bedding and clothes for a family of three so they will be able to go to the local caravan park which has power, hot showers, washing and cooking facilities, close to the supermarket and healthcare for Edward and that Shamus and Jasper can be close enough to be able to attend school again. These are things we all take for granted."

Mr Whiteside said he was incredibly grateful for the response from the community, and he'd never thought that they would be supported in that way.

He said he never expected any handouts but had reached out to Anglicare, and was planning to reach out to Housing Tasmania to try and get into crisis accommodation.

TasCOSS chief executive Adrienne Picone said the Whiteside family was suffering due to "a failure of government".

"All Tasmanians have the right to a safe, healthy, affordable home, and it is incumbent on governments to ensure our human rights and dignity are protected," she said.

Ms Picone said that families like this one were just one of more than 4000 human stories that make up Tasmania's growing housing waiting list.

"Families struggling with the cost of living pressures need more than one-off fixes to structural problems that drive more Tasmanians into housing stress and homelessness.

"Solutions are needed to reverse the cost of living pain caused by the combination of stagnant wages, below poverty line incomes for those on income support payments, crushing housing costs, and steep rises in the cost of food, petrol and other essentials."

The federal government will include a "cost of living" package in the federal budget, handed down by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday. However, how it will help with housing, groceries and petrol prices is still unclear.

Housing Minister Michael Ferguson said he had reached out to Mr Whiteside to see how he could help after hearing his story.

"I found this story very disturbing and immediately sought further information so we can help the family," he said.

Mr Ferguson said he had agreed to follow up with him after Mr Whiteside had the opportunity to meet with Housing Connect.

"I understand Housing Tasmania was not aware of this family or their circumstances and believe that the family has not yet requested assistance," Mr Ferguson.

"The community can be assured that our hard working staff are offering assistance as appropriate."

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