Housing NSW Negligence – An Accident Waiting to Happen

19 Mar 2010: North St Mary's resident Karen Heald, is living in an unsuitable NSW Housing property. The 45 year old was born with Spina Bifida and requires the full time use of a wheelchair to get around. She has been living in her NSW Housing dwelling for 18 months now and she is very unhappy.

When she first inspected the property, she said that she agreed to take the house as long as a ramp was installed to access the backyard. This has still not happened, despite this being a fire hazard, and her many calls to Housing NSW, where she has been told to ‘stop calling as there are no funds'.

Not only is the absence of a ramp a problem, there are also many smaller issues inside the home that need repairing or replacing which have also been ignored. Karen tells that there is an aging hot water system that has occasionally left her without hot water for up to 48 hours, the hand held shower head is broken, the shower curtain is only held up by wire, there is also a leaking ceiling in the lounge room and she says that the carpet is in a ‘terrible' condition.

An official from the Housing NSW department has said that they are sympathetic to Karen's needs but that they have no record of ever needing to perform maintenance to her property and there was no initial agreement to install a rear ramp. They did have an inspection last July and said that it wasn't feasible to install a ramp to the backyard due to the type and size of the property. They have said that they will be performing another inspection shortly so that they can tend to the other problems and they will be installing new carpet next week.

While Karen waits, she has to take her washing in a basket, on her lap, out the front door, go around the side, through a gate and navigate herself down the side of the house to her backyard, all this just to hang out her washing.

Karen's is just one of many complaints I have encountered that involve Housing NSW. One of my disabled blog readers have been told by the Department of Housing, that ‘people in wheelchairs are in the too hard basket' when asked why they can't find him a property. I have also personally encountered difficulty with Housing NSW.

Around two years ago, I had to move out of my rental property and couldn't find a wheelchair accessible place to live. I was facing the date that I had to be out of my place. Still, with nowhere to go, I had no choice but to take annual leave from my job at the time and move up to my mum's, who lives about two hours from where I was working. I figured that there were no other options for me if I wanted to live back in my hometown, in an accessible house and be close to my job, so I approached Housing NSW and applied for help. I was approved for ‘priority housing' which is given to those who are in an emergency situation and facing lifestyle changes if they can't find somewhere to live, such as job loss, lack of medical care, homelessness, ect.

Thankfully, I ended up finding a place to stay in Sydney with a friend, and was able to stay there for over a year, but needless to say, I am still on the ‘priority housing' list. I can see I have been a huge ‘priority' of theirs. Not that I am in urgent need anymore, but it is just the fact that if I still was, I would clearly be in a very bad situation.

This just goes to show that there is not enough help for people with disabilities who need assistance in finding suitable accommodation.

Not to sound like a whinger, but I think people and families with disabilities should be right at the top of the list when getting assistance from the government to find a suitable property to live in. Followed by the elderly, women in crisis situations (domestic violence), and single parents and so on, then right at the very bottom of the list, criminals and drug addicts. It shouldn't be the other way around as it is at the moment, and something needs to change!

To view the original story of Karen Heald that was featured in the Penrith Star, go to http