1 To Homelessness and Back
Recently I had a brief experience of homelessness, I had no fixed address. Yet luckily with gratitude to my family and friends I did have places to stay. A very dear, close friend asked how I got into the situation I was in……. how could a professional, intelligent, educated person end up experiencing an episode of homelessness……here is my story.
On returning from our honeymoon back in 1971, Tony and I moved into a small one-bedroom rental flat (h1) in Chadstone, a middle suburb in the South East of Melbourne. We lived in this flat for about 8 months at which time I discovered I was expecting our first child. As we had agreed and contracted to build our first house my parents suggested we live with them until the house was finished and ready to be occupied so that we could save money. This we did – but we didn’t save much as we went out often so as not to be at home in a cramped environment. Luckily we were both working, me as a primary school teacher and Tony as a PMG technician (PMG was later to become Telecom then Telstra).
In August 1972 we moved into our first house at 27 Melaleuca Drive, Upwey (h2) in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges on the outskirts of Eastern Melbourne. We were so happy and proud of this house – our first home to which we welcomed both our girls, Narelle and Keryn. But the small estate of which the house was a part was so suburban looking and so unlike the hills environment that we decided to sell. Would you believe, we made almost 100% profit on the original purchase price in only 2 ½ years but there our luck in real estate stopped.
From Melaleuca Drive we moved to a unit in East Bentleigh (h3) to see if we enjoyed suburban living but back to the hills we headed some 5 months later to the next house we purchased, in Fairydell Road, Tecoma (h4). Our two sons, Daniel and Luke were both born while we were living in this house and in time Narelle, Keryn and Daniel attended kindergarten and started school also from this house. Our 5 ½ years living in Fairydell Road I often say were the best years of my life. I developed a sense of belonging to the community making friends some of whom I still have contact with today. We started our own playgroup with neighbours in the street taking it turns to host the group. This was not only fun for the children but also for the mums. But not long after Luke was born Tony applied for a position at the Trade Union Training Authority’s residential training facility in Wodonga, Clyde Cameron College. He was successful.
So we were on the move again….to Wodonga. This wasn’t the easiest of moves as Tony left some three weeks before the children and I. With four very young children, the youngest being only three months old, I was left to sell and pack the house and move a distance of 300 kilometres. Thank God for the support of my parents.
When we first arrived in Wodonga we lived for a few months in a property located in Heckendorf Road (h5), rented from the then Albury Wodonga Development Corporation. Even though I was desperately homesick for my family and friends in Melbourne, we thought after a few months it was time to buy a house so we purchased a very simple weatherboard in Hensley Court (h6). I can’t now remember for how long we lived in Hensley Court but it can’t have been much more than a year. From Hensley Court we moved into another rental in Healey Close (h7), quite near to Clyde Cameron College. Of all the houses we lived in, in Wodonga it was the last house we purchased that I liked the best. We lived in this house for the last three of the six years we were in Wodonga. It was in Beechworth Road (h8), one of the main roads in Wodonga and very close to the shopping centre. I think this house is now a dental surgery.
At long last, at the end of 1986, Tony achieved a transfer back to Melbourne so we sold Beechworth Road and bought a house in Upwey at the top of Mast Gully Road in Alexandra Avenue (h9). This renovated weatherboard house had a large open plan living area, four bedrooms and a study (each child was able to have their own bedroom – a first) and a pool in the backyard. This was to be our last joint home as some 20 months later Tony and I separated……the why is another tale to be told. Sadly, this house today is nothing like it was when we bought it Following the separation, the children and I stayed living in Alexandra Ave for just over 12 months at which time the house was sold and we moved into a rental house in Ferguson Street, still in Upwey but on the other side of Burwood Highway. After we had been there for a while the owners decided to sell so I was lucky to be able to buy it. The children, now growing up, and I were able to stay in this house for over five years (h10). By this time even though we had mostly lived in homes we were buying I was starting to tire of moving and packing – perhaps I could have set up a business helping people organize their moves!
Sadly, by this time, I had remarried (a disaster), resigned from teaching and bought a deli in partnership with Leo, my second husband. Well, talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire, this was it. For us, the deli was a dismal failure from which we ended up receiving no income. As I was not able to pay the mortgage I lost my house. From Ferguson Street we lived in a series of rentals – in Morris Road, Upwey, Ferguson Street, Upwey, Alexandra Ave, Upwey, Belmont Ave, Upwey, Pakington St, Kew and Strabane Ave, Mont Albert North. This I think brings us up to house 16 (h16)!
And so the journey continues…….
There is one thing that I learnt while living this gypsy lifestlye and that is ‘home is where the heart is’. I believe the bonds between my children and myself were strong no matter where we lived and the values and expectations of behaving and learning existed no matter where we were. No matter how poor or comfortable we were reading and education were always of importance.
From Mont Albert North Leo and I moved to Beechworth where we had bought a lovely home in Malakoff Drive (h17). We were comfortable, I thought, and happy (until I discovered that Leo had joined a singles club in Albury using a false name).
This would have to be the second favourite house I have lived in. I so liked the open plan, split level design and its gorgeous garden.
Fortunately, I was able to find employment while living in Beechworth and started to become a part of the community, joining the book club and learning mosaics. We had been living in Beechworth for more than a year when I found out that Leo was still looking for another woman. What was I to do……stay? Or go? I decided – go. So back to Melbourne it was.
Back in Melbourne my journey took me to a very comfortable and cosy unit in Croydon (h18) where I stayed for about 7 months. Luke joined me in Croydon and came with me to our next two homes. While in Croydon my sister suggested we buy a house together. Eventually we found a very nice, tri level house in Terrys Ave, Belgrave (h19) that we purchased using money I had to pay the deposit and costs. After about six weeks Lynne decided to go back home to our parents. At that time, I was only working four days a week so was not able to pay both shares of the mortgage. After seven months we sold the house leaving me with a few thousand less than I started with, so not really able to get back into the housing market.
As I loved living in the hills, from Terry’s Ave I moved into a house in Broadway, Belgrave (h20) where I stayed for about 2 ½ years, except for a break of five days when I thought I would move to a boarding house in Mordialloc – another dismissal failure.
Please ignore the rubbish in the photo – not from our times.
Luke, my younger son, shared this house with me until he decided to live full time with his girlfriend, Jacqui. Luke and Jacqui have since bought a house, would you believe, in Terrys Ave, Belgrave and have an absolutely gorgeous two-year-old daughter. While living in Broadway one day I met Roger who was to become not only a colleague but also a very good friend and partner.
After a few months we decided that as we were not getting any younger and that we were very companionable and we were both renting that I would move into his unit in Springvale. Living in Springvale was great for me as at that time I was working in the City of Greater Dandenong’s Springvale office only about 400 metres away. The unit in View Road (h21) was to become my home for the next four years.
After four years I decided that while I loved Roger dearly as a friend and good ‘buddy’, I found him very difficult to live with and was feeling very stressed at times so decided to move on.
I found a delightful little house in Berwick (h22) to rent where I was extremely comfortable and happy. Meanwhile my friendship with Roger continued and at the same time I worked at developing an independent life with my own friends and interests.
After about two years, following some health issues, I was offered part time work for about ten months. I accepted, but, given the reduced income I had difficulty affording the rent. It was suggested that I move in with my father in the family home – not that I had lived ever there before for any length of time. So off to Outlook Drive it was.
3 Outlook Drive Berwick (h23) was to be my home for the next 22 months.
But it was decided that it would be better for our father if he was to live in a serviced apartment in a retirement village in Berwick which meant selling the family home. While I thought I had organized alternative accommodation when the time came for me to relocate the space wasn’t quite ready for me and all my belongings. What was I to do?
On the morning of Wednesday, 23rd September, 2015 removalists were loading my belongings onto their van while I was trying to find a storage facility in which to put it. Luckily, I was successful. My belongings successfully stored, the next step was to find somewhere to sleep. You could say I ‘slept around’ – I stayed with a daughter and her family for four nights, with a son and his family for seven nights, I house sat for a friend and her husband for a week while they were holidaying in Canberra, then I accepted the invitation from Roger to share his unit in Springvale again – until my application for community housing is successful.
For a few days I had ‘no fixed address’, I was homeless, and without the means to purchase a property of my own, and without the income to pay market rent.
There is a very close correlation between income and assets, and having a home, or being homeless. This could happen to anyone at any time.
Tales to be told 