Living in lean to garage

Lucy* and her four children previously lived in a rental house which was under her ex-husband. One day the husband decided to move out of the house. Lucy was heartbroken because was not working and she was stressed, thinking about how she is going to pay the rent.

Lucy ends up evicted from the house by the landlord due to rent arrears. The family went to Work and Income for help and she was very lucky to get into a motel. Lucy did not understand the process of Work and Income because of the language barrier.

One day the owner of the motel asked her to leave because the rent wasn’t paid by Work and Income. That night Lucy slept in the car with her children at the back of Countdown in Mt Wellington Highway. On the Saturday morning the children were playing in the park and her old friend recognized the children and she came close to them and asked why are they playing alone and they said we are here with our mother – Last night we slept in the car because we are homeless.

The friend said to Lucy and the children come and live in my garage. Lucy decided to wake up early on Monday and come to Monte Cecilia to apply for Emergency Housing. The family application was accepted and put on the waitlist.

The allocated Advocate social worker booked a home visit to see this family and she did the whole application according to a living situation of the family so they can be housed immediately. The social worker took some pictures of the garage which the main door was not closing properly family were sleeping on the mattress and was not enough space because of the tools were in the garage. 

After the application, the social worker sat down with the Team Leader just to put things together so this family can be housed immediately. Monte Cecilia Tenancy Team acted immediately in the situation and the house was granted for this family to move out on the same day of assessment with the social worker. The family moved to Kerry Vista Monte Cecilia Emergency Housing for less than three months. 

Recently this family moved in a beautiful Community house of Monte Cecilia, the house is affordable, appropriate, dry and warm. The emergency Housing Social Worker supported this family with furniture and food. 

*Not her real name