By Brendan Rees
A South East pensioner who is the carer of her elderly parents says she’s running out of options to put a roof over their heads.
Linda Ashworth, 55, has been battling to find a two-bedroom unit and although they’ve been given priority on the social housing waiting list – that wait could be up to two years.
“We’ve been staying with friends for a couple of weeks in Cranbourne East but like anything they’re elderly; they need their lives back on track,” she says.
At the end of March there were 41,677 on the State Government’s queue for public housing – with 21,713 being priority cases for people experiencing issues with disability, mental health, family violence or homelessness.
The wait list is under pressure as private rents rise faster than wages, Newstart and Commonwealth rent assistance.
Cranbourne Information and Support Service’s executive officer Leanne Petrides, who has been supporting Ms Ashworth, said Victoria’s public housing shortfall of 103,800 highlighted a “desperate need” for more public and crisis housing.
Ms Ashworth says they have furniture in storage and live out of plastic bags. And now they are faced with little option but to move into a motel by the end of the week.
“Going into a motel means our pensions have to be used to pay for the motel,” she says.
Ms Ashworth said she’s looked at many private rental properties but “there isn’t a great deal out there that’s affordable.”
“We’ve got to look for no stairs, and particular things in a rental property which makes the job that little bit harder.
“It’s a no win situation,” she says.
Her mother Joyce, 81, and 88-year-old father John, who has a pace maker and is wheelchair bound, were in a retirement village in Pakenham until Ms Ashworth’s sister bought her parents a home but when the “funds dried up she evicted them last December.”
Extended family in Doreen took them into their home but the commute to the south eastern suburbs for her father’s medical appointments became too much.
Ms Ashworth said she also met a “dead-end” with WAYSS in Berwick, a service that helps people experiencing homelessness, as they could only offer a one bedroom cabin in Tooradin.
“Because of my father’s needs it’s got to be a two bedroom cabin,” she said.
Ms Ashworth says they’ve contacted their local members of Parliament “but can’t seem to pull a rabbit out of hat.”
A Victorian Government spokesperson said the Department of Health and Human Services and emergency housing providers were working closely with the family to help them find short term accommodation until longer term public housing became available.
“Public housing provides safe and secure shelter for Victorians who need it the most and we prioritise people managing health, ageing and disability issues such as these – we’ll do everything we can to help,” the spokesperson said.
Ms Ashworth believes there should be more help offered for those in a similar situation.
“When you’ve got a dad whose 88 you think to yourself we deserve a little bit better than this.”
