Therese* was in her 70s and had lived in her one-bedroom social housing home for 20 years when she was served an eviction notice.
Therese has physical disabilities and lives with a mental health condition. This means she sometimes struggles to keep her house organised and tidy, noticeable to her social housing landlord. But instead of getting her the support she needed to live in a tidy and safe home, the landlord tried to kick her out.
There are many others like Therese, living with their social housing tenancy on a knife-edge. A report from the NSW Audit Office recently called out the NSW Government for not having a clear strategy to support people living in social housing to maintain their tenancies. And when the social housing safety net fails them, where do they go?
JEC wins award for housing and mental ill-health lived experience committee