Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Entrapment; or, Come and see this property, said the spider to the fly...

DH has a friend with 2 disabled boys in a 2 bedroom D'oH unit.
She has been sleeping in the lounge room for 5 years, and has been on a priority list for rehousing within the same area for 7 years.
She lives in an area with some notorious DoH badlands, and she is afraid to go there, especially with her 2 very vulnerable boys. She has made clear that she wants to stay in her immediate locality.
This has never been questioned by the Dept.
Recently the department has contacted her, saying, "Look, there is nothing much in this area, why not come and have a look at Badlands Ave. We promise you won't be under any obligation". Reluctantly she agreed. But when she turned up and saw the teen gang smoking outside the front door of the dilapidated estate, she refused to go in.
Next week, she gets another offer in the same area. She explains again that she has been promised she is not under obligation to go out of area, and declines.
Next step. You guessed it. She gets a letter saying that as she has refused 2 offers, she will be knocked off the rehousing list and has to go to the end of the queue, unless she has a medical certificate...
Well, DH hears you say, "Tough. We're all doing it tough. She should be grateful she has a roof over her head at all."
And that is the attitude we had to have after 10 years of John Howard. This is the Australia that we had to have, according to Public Tenant No 1, John Howard, who has robbed to poor to give to the rich. Example du jour. transferring public moneys to private landlords via the Rental Assistance scheme/
The story gets worse, but its too damn complex for DH to find the time, and she's just plain disspirited...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

disspirited you may be...but i am glad you exist. i like your site, you're intelligent and funny, and yer representin for the good.

peace be upon you, fellow sydney liver.