{"id":29343,"date":"2015-07-21T16:53:07","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T06:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=29343"},"modified":"2019-04-13T23:54:28","modified_gmt":"2019-04-13T13:54:28","slug":"how-did-i-find-myself-facing-imminent-homelessness-it-happened-slowly-then-all-at-once","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/how-did-i-find-myself-facing-imminent-homelessness-it-happened-slowly-then-all-at-once\/","title":{"rendered":"How did I find myself facing imminent homelessness? It happened slowly, then all at once."},"content":{"rendered":"[clear]\n
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By Valerius83 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>], via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Author name\u00a0withheld<\/em><\/p>\n

How did I find myself facing imminent homelessness? It happened slowly, then all at once.<\/p>\n

I never thought it could happen to me. Several years ago, I was a corporate executive: office overlooking Circular Quay, long lunches, incentive trips. But the good times ended as the economy soured, and the company folded. I\u2019d always had a feeling that there had to be more to life than making money; that I wanted to do some good in the world. So I decided to go back to university and become a registered nurse.<\/p>\n

Somewhere along the line my husband also lost his job, and returned to caring for our son full time; then we lost our house, and ended up moving in with his mother. The stress of living with the in-laws has ended better relationships than ours; we are separating, and I have to move out.<\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t have anywhere to go.<\/p>\n

In the Sydney rental market, I can\u2019t find anywhere I can afford to rent. It\u2019s not a matter of being picky about what suburb I live in, or being willing to move further away from the CBD; on Austudy, I can\u2019t afford to live anywhere, and I\u2019ve searched suburbs I\u2019ve never heard of, suburbs I\u2019ve only heard of due to media coverage of the latest shooting, suburbs that aren\u2019t suburbs at all but far-flung towns well beyond the city\u2019s outskirts. I can\u2019t afford to be anywhere. I can\u2019t afford to be<\/em>. There are no relatives I can stay with. Sharehouses aren\u2019t an option, as I want my kid to stay over and I just don\u2019t trust living with a stranger. I can just about afford a tiny \u201cstudio\u201d \u2013 in reality a concrete box with a sink and toilet \u2013 way, way out of Sydney \u2013 but I still need to stump up a four figure sum for bond and moving expenses. And I just don\u2019t have it.<\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t you get a job, they say. I\u2019m trying my damndest, sending out resumes in between studying and spending time with my son. Thing is though, any job will take several weeks to go through the recruitment process, and then another few weeks for the first paycheque, and I\u2019m told I need to leave this house now<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There are almost no options for financial help in this situation. I have a tidy sum of superannuation tucked away \u2013 but homelessness does not count as criteria for early release of super on the grounds of \u201cfinancial hardship\u201d. Microfinance and good shepherd loans are not available to cover bond and moving expenses. I don\u2019t qualify for any other loans. I have nothing I can sell, no car to sell or live in.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s winter. All temporary and emergency accommodation is full. There are no beds available in any refuges or homeless shelters \u2013 now more than ever, thanks to the state government\u2019s \u201cGoing Home, Staying Home\u201d policies which have seen so many refuges stripped of funding. I\u2019ve worked hard my whole life, I don\u2019t smoke or use drugs or drink to excess, yet I could soon find myself living on the streets.<\/p>\n

And I know I\u2019m not the only one.\u00a0 I used to wonder how, in our welfare state, people could still end up homeless. Now I know. A toxic combination of spiralling rental prices, cuts to homeless services, and a system that prevents me from accessing the money I worked for, means I\u2019m about to end up with a sleeping bag and cardboard sign, in Belmore Park or Central Station. I never thought this could happen to me, but so many of us are one pay cheque, one rent or mortgage payment, away from disaster. My disaster is upon me, and it\u2019s cold and lonely and scary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[clear]   Author name\u00a0withheld How did I find myself facing imminent homelessness? It happened slowly, then all at once. I never thought it could happen to me. Several years ago, I was a corporate executive: office overlooking Circular Quay, long lunches, incentive trips. But the good times ended as the economy soured, and the company […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3434,585],"tags":[123,2341,2479,1330,2529,2530,1078,1936,1808],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3t0mw-7Dh","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29343"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}