Client's Stories

Mary* is a 88 year old single woman living alone in a private rental property. She has a severely autistic grandson living nearby and she does not wish to move away from her son and the grandson. She has no other source of income or savings except for the Age Pension which is approximately $1,200 a fortnight. Her rent was increased recently, and she is now paying $490 per week in rent.

In January this year we received a referral from Beyond Housing in Seymour. Glen had moved back to Victoria to live with family after been a victim of a home invasion and serious assault in public housing in NSW. Glen was living in a caravan on a family member’s property at Seymour but he had been asked him to leave, and he was going to start camping by the river.

David was camping with his dog Timmy on the Murray River near Cobram. He had been on the priority housing waiting list for 5 years. David said he had contacted a crisis housing access point several times but he was told there was no housing.

He’d heard about a Housing Information session organized by HAAG at the Cobram Community Centre in February, and decided to come along!

Marie was 81-year-old and living in a very dishevelled, 120 year old cottage. She was renting for a number of years and had paid for things to be done on the cottage herself, as the landlord did not want to spend the money. She was understandable very worried she would get blown away in the next big storm, the cottage was very unsafe.

Selma is a 63-year-old woman originally from Bosnia (former Yugoslavia).  Along with her family and many others, Selma was forced to seek refuge in other countries for safety.