Wendy’s five years as a couch-surfer
Mother with disability losing hope she will find a home
A LAUNCESTON woman who lives with disability following a frightful accident in 1993 has revealed she has been couch-surfing for five years, unable to be placed into a home by Housing Connect and fast losing hope she will.
Wendy Cherry, 41, shared her story in the wake of the release of figures obtained by Tasmanian Labor showing that the number of women with disabilities on the Housing Register has increased in both relative and absolute terms between 2017–18 and now.
The figures released show that in 2017–18, 494 out of 3,216 applications were women with disability: 15.36 per cent.
But, as at September 30, there were 867 women with disability out of 4504 applicants: 19.24 per cent, a rise of approximately 3.9 percentage points.
Ms Cherry, who lives with an acquired brain injury and osteoarthritis – she has no sensation in her lower right limb – among other conditions, said she became homeless after fleeing a domestically violent relationship.
She crashes at her mum’s Kings Meadows residence three nights per week and stays with friends the other four nights. But the pool of friends able to help her out is drying up.
“Some are turning me away at the moment as they are expanding their family,” Ms Cherry said.
The mother-of-one said couch-surfing is “hard on my body”.
“Couch to couch is not the most comfortable,” she said.
It’s also expensive. Ms Cherry is haemorrhaging cash, running hard to stay still. She said she spends $60 –$70 on taxis between friends houses, as she has limited mobility, and also pays board, water and electricity to them.
Meanwhile, her meals for the week live in a chest freezer at her mother’s – Ms Cherry has to schlep them around with her, wherever she goes.
She is losing hope Housing Connect will find somewhere suitable for her (she can’t navigate stairs due to her condition).
“I just get dead ends all the time. I’ve put every suburb in Launceston down (as being suitable for her), just about,” Ms Cherry said.
Another effect of her homelessness – she is unable to fully utilise her NDIS package.
In a letter from St Michaels, NDIS support co-ordinator Anita Wilson said Ms Cherry is “at risk of losing her funding” if she doesn’t find a house by the end of her plan, which ends on January 17 – less than a month away.
She said she is forced to use up her allocated hours with Ms Cherry trying to find stable accommodation for her, rather than focusing on her mental health and building capacity.
Labor Bass MP Michelle O’Byrne was scathing in her assessment of Ms Cherry’s situation.
“Wendy has been cast out by this government … (which) should stand condemned,” Ms O’Byrne said.
Housing Minister Guy Barnett said the state government was on track to deliver 1500 new homes by June 2023 under its 10-year, $1bn plan to build 10,000 new homes.
“`There are 1290 new longterm homes and units of supported and homeless accommodation in progress as at the end of November,” he said.