Help to survive in unnaffordable private rental

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. This means Mary has little to no money to pay for food, utilities and cover her medical expenses. Mary was referred to HAAG’s Care finder team by her son who also makes small contributions towards Mary’s medical expenses when he is able to.

At the time of referral, Mary was getting Meals on Wheels food deliveries 3 days a week. These cost Mary about $12.00 per meal and she would order meals for 3 days and stretch the food over 7 days. She is unable to access Emergency Relief as she is unable to travel to the services to collect those. She was also not using her heating or cooling as she is unable to cover the costs. All these resulted in significantly deteriorating Mary’s health.

The rental property Mary is in has stairs which is a health risk. Mary has been housebound for months as she has been unable to go down the stairs. Before she met the Care finder team member, Mary said she was saving $1 a fortnight to go towards the cost of handrail. Her roof leaks when it rains and she’s afraid to complain about it to the landlord. She was uncomfortable with the Care finder team member reaching out to the landlord to install grabrails in the main entrance and the shower due to fear of eviction.

When the Care finder team member offered to assist Mary with her public or community housing application, Mary refused. The area Mary is in has very limited public, community and affordable housing stock. Even if Mary was prioritised, she feels that it would be a long wait before she is offered a property. She told the Care finder team member that she does not believe she will be alive by the time a property is offered to her and that she is too old to move house. She hopes that she can continue to live in the same rental unit for as long as she can.

HAAG’s Care finder team member managed to reduce the rate of Council Meals on Wheels meals to about $3-4 which has resulted in Mary ordering meals 5 days a week and  instead of 3 days. She also facilitated Mary to receive support from an Emergency Relief provider to ‘top up’ the Meals on Wheels deliveries for the weekends.

Given the health risks of not having a handrail to go out of the house, Care finder staff member is working with local health district staff to organise it. She is also working on supporting Mary to ask the landlord to repair the leaky roof.

Once Mary’s accessibility issues are resolved, the Care finder team member will assist Mary with obtaining all relevant materials to receive a Home Care Package so she’s able to age in place.

*Name and other identifiable information have been changed and consent of the person was obtained to share the case study.