Older Tenants Victoria

Horror Housing Page - How big will this page get?

At HAAG we feel so angry that anyone has to live
in such horror housing.. until HAAG finds a resolution...

How do vulnerable, disadvantaged, frail older persons feel?

Case Study 4 - Homelessness - with photos
... an extreme example?

3 Case Studies outlined below:

(1) Case Study - Hearing impaired client

(2) Case Study - Relocation

(3) Case Study - Domestic Violence

(1) Case Study - Hearing impaired client

Susan, a 75 year old woman with a psychiatric disability, was referred to HAAG by the regional psychiatric service to locate housing for her.
Her current living situation had become untenable and her mental health was deteriorating. Susan has lived in the same house as a public tenant for 40 years.
Three years ago, when one of her adult sons was living with her, the Office Of Housing wrote to Susan offering to sell her the house but, because she couldn't afford to buy it on the pension, Susan's grand-daughter and husband bought it. Their intention was to live in the house themselves with Susan and her son.
Within the first 2 weeks of the grand-daughter moving into the house a major conflict had arisen and the grand-daughter had evicted Susan's son. As he was an important support for Susan this led to further tension within the house. Conflicts also emerged over domestic arrangements which upset Susan so much that she started hearing voices. She eventually decided that, for the sake of her sanity, she needed to live on her own.

After working with her for 6 months HAAG has been unable to find Susan suitable accommodation. In order to give both Susan and her grand-daughter breaks during this time HAAG has arranged for her to go into respite care on a number of occasions.

Communication with Susan is particularly difficult because she is also profoundly deaf.
As part of our work with her HAAG has had to arrange to have her hearing reassessed and to have her hearing aids changed (her hearing has deteriorated).
Her HAAG worker has also seen Susan's audiologist to learn more effective communication strategies.
Because our phone system is not compatible with Susan's telephone hearing aid and cannot itself be amplified we are unable to communicate with her by phone. This makes for extreme difficulty for our worker in making appointments to go and see Susan.

Susan often misunderstands arrangements that have been made and collapses emotionally (she starts to shake uncontrollably and her voices come back) when the worker does not arrive at what she believes is the appointed time. Because she lives in a fringe suburb it difficult for the worker to drop in without a prior arrangement.
The woman's audiologist has advised HAAG that to be able to work effectively with her we need to upgrade our equipment.

(2) Case Study - Relocation

A woman in her late fifties was recently assisted by HAAG with relocation and removal costs. The woman was facing eviction from her accommodation because it was being sold.

The woman had been a life long resident of the inner suburbs with the exception of a seven-year period where she was purchasing her own home. The property was being purchased under the State Government's Home Opportunity Loan Scheme, a scheme designed to make home purchase achievable for low-income earners. Like many other borrowers involved in this scheme the woman ended up losing the house when she was unable to meet the repayments.
After the trauma of losing her house the woman felt that she needed to be in familiar surroundings again and moved back to the inner suburbs.

With an indefinite waiting list for the area's public and community housing the woman was forced back into the private rental sector.
Unfortunately, as an inner city private renter, the woman had once again become a victim of the inner suburban property boom. For the third time in six years the woman was facing eviction due to property sale or redevelopment.

Coupled with the task of finding somewhere to live again, and the threat of physical eviction, the woman became quite unwell and required significant emotional and physical support from HAAG in locating her new accommodation.

An Office of Housing priority-housing application was lodged and rejected and a search of the local community-housing sector proved fruitless. Once again this meant that private rental was the only available option.

Negotiations with the woman's current estate agent commenced with a request that the agent try and locate an affordable flat within their agency or their network. Fortunately the agent was sympathetic and a flat was found ten days before the notice period expired.

As a disability pensioner the woman had no savings and therefore no funds to pay the bond, four weeks rent in advance or the removal costs.
HAAG negotiated with the estate agent to transfer the bond over to the new property, and the rent in advance was raised through two transitional housing programs.
As the transitional housing programs had already assisted with the rent in advance, the woman was ineligible for any further assistance to move her belongings. Fortunately through trust funding HAAG was able to cover her removal costs. The total cost of this woman's relocation was $1,400.00

	3 Case Studies outlined below: (1) Case Study - Hearing impaired client (2) Case Study - Relocation (3) Case Study - Domestic Violence (1) Case Study - Hearing impaired client Susan, a 75 year old woman with a psychiatric disability, was referred to HAAG by the regional psychiatric service to locate housing for her. Her current living situation had become untenable and her mental health was deteriorating. Susan has lived in the same house as a public tenant for 40 years. Three years ago, when one of her adult sons was living with her, the Office Of Housing wrote to Susan offering to sell her the house but, because she couldn't afford to buy it on the pension, Susan's grand-daughter and husband bought it. Their intention was to live in the house themselves with Susan and her son. Within the first 2 weeks of the grand-daughter moving into the house a major conflict had arisen and the grand-daughter had evicted Susan's son. As he was an important support for Susan this led to further tension within the house. Conflicts also emerged over domestic arrangements which upset Susan so much that she started hearing voices. She eventually decided that, for the sake of her sanity, she needed to live on her own. After working with her for 6 months HAAG has been unable to find Susan suitable accommodation. In order to give both Susan and her grand-daughter breaks during this time HAAG has arranged for her to go into respite care on a number of occasions. Communication with Susan is particularly difficult because she is also profoundly deaf. As part of our work with her HAAG has had to arrange to have her hearing reassessed and to have her hearing aids changed (her hearing has deteriorated). Her HAAG worker has also seen Susan's audiologist to learn more effective communication strategies. Because our phone system is not compatible with Susan's telephone hearing aid and cannot itself be amplified we are unable to communicate with her by phone. This makes for extreme difficulty for our worker in making appointments to go and see Susan. Susan often misunderstands arrangements that have been made and collapses emotionally (she starts to shake uncontrollably and her voices come back) when the worker does not arrive at what she believes is the appointed time. Because she lives in a fringe suburb it difficult for the worker to drop in without a prior arrangement. The woman's audiologist has advised HAAG that to be able to work effectively with her we need to upgrade our equipment.
	(2) Case Study - Relocation A woman in her late fifties was recently assisted by HAAG with relocation and removal costs. The woman was facing eviction from her accommodation because it was being sold. The woman had been a life long resident of the inner suburbs with the exception of a seven-year period where she was purchasing her own home. The property was being purchased under the State Government's Home Opportunity Loan Scheme, a scheme designed to make home purchase achievable for low-income earners. Like many other borrowers involved in this scheme the woman ended up losing the house when she was unable to meet the repayments. After the trauma of losing her house the woman felt that she needed to be in familiar surroundings again and moved back to the inner suburbs. With an indefinite waiting list for the area's public and community housing the woman was forced back into the private rental sector. Unfortunately, as an inner city private renter, the woman had once again become a victim of the inner suburban property boom. For the third time in six years the woman was facing eviction due to property sale or redevelopment. Coupled with the task of finding somewhere to live again, and the threat of physical eviction, the woman became quite unwell and required significant emotional and physical support from HAAG in locating her new accommodation. An Office of Housing priority-housing application was lodged and rejected and a search of the local community-housing sector proved fruitless. Once again this meant that private rental was the only available option. Negotiations with the woman's current estate agent commenced with a request that the agent try and locate an affordable flat within their agency or their network. Fortunately the agent was sympathetic and a flat was found ten days before the notice period expired. As a disability pensioner the woman had no savings and therefore no funds to pay the bond, four weeks rent in advance or the removal costs. HAAG negotiated with the estate agent to transfer the bond over to the new property, and the rent in advance was raised through two transitional housing programs. As the transitional housing programs had already assisted with the rent in advance, the woman was ineligible for any further assistance to move her belongings. Fortunately through trust funding HAAG was able to cover her removal costs. The total cost of this woman's relocation was $1,400.00
	(3) Case Study - Domestic Violence HAAG has been working for some time with a woman in her late 60s. Until her husband was imprisoned about 7 years ago she had lived in an extreme domestic violence situation for about 20 years. Despite numerous attempts to leave the situation, including moving interstate, her husband always found her and forced her to move back with him. The woman ended up being a police witness against her husband for a violent crime unrelated to herself. The police were so concerned for her safety that, prior to and during his trial, they placed her in a witness protection scheme and gave her a new identity. Her husband was subsequently jailed. The husband is now due for release and the woman is terrified that he will find her and kill her because of the evidence she gave against him. She has left her current accommodation in fear and is moving around different cheap hotels. She feels that only possibility for her to be safe is to move to a remote rural area where the accommodation is affordable. However she cannot afford either the storage costs for her belongings or the removal costs. HAAG is currently attempting to raise the funds that she needs to move.