When I moved to Melbourne from Perth with my daughter, Jewish Care helped us into transitional housing straight away, where we formed a very close community.
Because our housing was transitional, we still had to go on the public housing waitlist. I soon learned the system has no obligation to keep people within their community, and I had no family or friends outside the community I’d found. The thought of losing that was terrifying.
When my first offer came through, it wasn’t anywhere near my community. I explained to my housing officer how important that community was to me, but I was told refusing two offers would send me back to the bottom of the waitlist and require me to leave my transitional housing.
I was so anxious about what the future held. Then my housing officer actually looked into what community connections existed within a suitable distance before making me an offer. It felt like a miracle and we were happy for years.
Then two years ago, there was a fire in our home. It spread through the house and we lost almost everything, clothes, toys, books, appliances, all of it.
The HAAT team were so understanding of what we were going through. Housing was onto it straight away, working out what we needed. I explained how much community meant to us, and within 24 hours they’d found us somewhere new still connected to my community.
Because of public housing, I’ve been able to build a much more fulfilling life than if I’d had to keep fighting just to keep a roof over our heads. Life can be hard enough as it is, having that roof, and a community around us, has made all the difference. The Cheltenham office and the HAAT team were so gentle with us throughout everything.