Homelessness

@avant-garde this is all so true and the very sad reality of living in this country at the moment. It's so incredibly frustrating. Ive been on a cat 2 waitlist for 15 + years and when I first got on it they told me it would be a 10 year wait.

You wrote what I could not explain. I’m in this situation…my room got ransacked while I was away. It felt awful to come back here after Christmas. Just getting taken advantage of all the time cos there is no affordable housing left.

i feel like maybe we could band together somehow

@Coco-star I'm so sorry to hear what happened to you. Something really needs to be done to change the housing situation.

@Coco-star

I know, I read your housing thread. You have rights you know, as a tenant. But that comes with its own risks.

Band together makes me think in person but due to my own safety, anonymity is one of my highest priorities on here.

This is a public forum and our voices can be united on here in advocating for change.

It's a horrible situation to be in

@avant-garde Oh of course. That was silly of me, I hope I have to keep my own anonymity here too. I do get worried I will sabotage what roof I have over my head, I try to remain flexible but some boundaries have been crossed. I am learning every day to advocate for myself but I get scared because I have autism I read the room wrong and might just say the wrong thing. It sounds like you are also in a not so good situation? If you feel like sharing no pressure

@Coco-star

The place I'm in is fine, they don't abuse me here, they just don't really excel at communication, but I've been where you are, renting rooms for over 10 years until I couldn't do it anymore

Housing is a constant stress for me at the moment. I know others have it far worse off than me. I’m in secure housing at the moment. I’m with family that support me. And it’s currently somewhat affordable. But I am terrified that that is going to be pulled from me in the coming months. Our landlord is terrible. So is the realestate. She refuses to fix or maintain anything so we refuse to pay her exorbitant rent increases, instead negotiating a lower increase. But we think that is going to bite us in the butt and we are expecting our lease to be terminated. I stress about it every day.

And to make matters worse, when your trapped in a domestic living hell, people will bizarrely make out that you must like it, or else you wouldn't be there. Apparently, we're supposed to be able to just magically teleport ourselves into a better household!

And because your network goes around sowing these rumors that you like being where you are, nobody ever offers you any help to get out of there! It's like: "Can't you bastards at least tell the truth about my plight, so that if anyone who can help me does hear about it, they might help me get out of here?" My therapist was as bad as any of them in that regard. I went into therapy, in part, because I wanted to get transplanted into a better household, and instead my b**ch therapist just kept telling me that I had a good life where I was, and so she wasn't gonna help me to get out of there.

I don't know why there's such a damned conspiracy against people who are trapped in shitty lives.

There's something almost biblical about it, you know? Like you know how in the bible, the lepers - the people who needed the most help of all - were treated the worst out of everyone? I thought we were supposed to be culturally more advanced then that now, but it sure doesn't feel like it.

Hey @avant-garde ,

Thank you for making it so real. Yes, I know there's a homelessness issue, but it actually get your version of things really hits home.

I also see that homelessness affects generations. Just because children were born into a family who struggled with housing, does this mean they are destined to also struggle?

Looking through this, comments that may come across is, "Oh, they are just picky" or "Go find something cheaper", yet consider the implications of moving away from everything they've known? Consider the implications of moving in itself? Booking a removalist is a good $1000 to move a house full of things.

I really appreciate all your contributions @chibam @avant-garde @Bow @Coco-star @Former-Member . I've never had an issue with housing, and I'm thinking that most of the people in power who have a say about homelessness policies etc, have also NEVER had an issue with housing.

Time to get real?

Politicians will never know what it's like, but they need to, they take the photos to get the votes but then take the money away from those that need it to fund "the economy".

You know what would help the cost of living crisis? Affordable housing!

To stop building roads to nowhere and start building houses.

The likelihood of it ever getting real to those who can change things is less likely than a bed being available in a domestic violence women's refuge on a public holiday