Dean’s mental illnesses tumbled him down a spiral from methamphetamine addiction to bankruptcy, from homelessness to being gay-bashed in crisis accommodation, from two suicide attempts to psychosis and breakdown and, ultimately, in 2012, seven month’s incarceration as an involuntary hospital patient. There he was assaulted again, survived another suicide attempt, self-harmed and was forced into electro-convulsive anxiety but supported by his family and a Community Mental Health Clinic, into transitional housing in 2013. Feeling empty, with no self-esteem, direction or do-able future, he prepared for the worst, desperately downsizing, and emptied out the six bookshelves that took a lifetime in academia and teaching to fill. “I literally prepared myself for no life, subsisting in a cramped, dingy, rundown, soulless little flat,” he says. When his social worker took him to meet his Housing Officer in Reservoir, Dean was “astonished” by the home he had been given. “Hardwood floors, great condition, layout, garden, neighbours, close to shops and transport, what more could I want?” he said. “It catapulted me into having hopes again.” Dean tells us that Housing Choices’ affordable rent allows him to adequately feed himself, pay utilities, sustain health and home insurance and afford a social life. “It also meant I was able to save up and buy a computer, which allows me to take on work projects, which in turn gives me back a sense of purpose and identity.” “Housing Choices’ Resident Advisory Committee was my first real work project after escaping hospital. We’re all dealt with very professionally, our contribution is valued, our opinions heard. It’s not a box-ticking exercise, Housing Choices is very genuine in its intent.” shock therapy before emerging, disoriented and half-paralysed by
The Residents Committee is charged with providing direct, honest input and feedback by residents on everything from Housing Choices policy to practice, from new initiatives to key performance indicators. “I wanted to give something back to the organisation that provided me such a wonderful home. My initial thought was that the committee might be tokenistic, I was a bit sceptical, but Housing Choices has always fully engaged with us, takes us seriously and keeps us well informed.” Dean is immensely proud of his involvement with the Committee. He’s hugely impressed by the comprehensive range of resident involvement in everything from how to approach the vexed issue of arrears to setting up hardship provisions, from the wording of letters to residents to the content and design of the Housing Choices website. “Housing Choices is really focussed on residents in a holistic, pragmatic way, helping them to live better lives and set up better and more sustainable communities. The Committee takes its place as a systemic, formal mechanism for resident consultation.” A yearly highlight for Dean is the Good Neighbour Awards. “They’re particularly effective in recognising and celebrating the community Housing Choices was set up to foster. People actually use it and look forward to it every year, and they’re often gorgeously emotional”. Dean and the whole committee particularly value administering the Community Development Fund, which supports a startlingly-wide range of resident-run community projects. Dean notes that the Resident Committee gave him back some faith in his “focus, competency and even employability.” This motivated him to seek work in the mental health sector, where he could draw on both his professional background and lived experience. He also joined a mental health peer support group, disturbed and concerned by how others’ lives are depressingly different from his. “Many can’t afford a social life, can’t pay their
bills, no insurance, exorbitant rent they can’t afford without a housemate, needing charity food parcels. They’re very isolated and desperately lonely. We plan phone calls just to ensure they speak to someone during the week.” Dean describes the impact of their financial hardship. “They’re often easily lured by payday loans, unwittingly driving them into further and more long-term debt.” So he says empowering individuals with the tools and resources to make responsible choices is paramount to their success. The Committee was instrumental in working with Housing Choices and Good Shepherd on its new financial counselling program for residents, with phone and face-to-face advice and practical workshops. “It offers basic money coaching, helping those on low or fixed incomes avoid payday loans or Centrelink advances, and better budget with what they have.” So Dean reckons Housing Choices gave him not only a terrific home base but also pathways back into work, community, hope, goals and undreamt- of options for a future. “The stability, certainty and comforts of having a real home, that I am delighted and constantly reassured by, gave me the starting point to put my life back together. Surfacing from the everyday terror of an inpatient psych unit, it was over two years before I’d allow friends in my place because it felt like a precarious refuge initially.” He said. “My impulse to be social had bled out. But my safe welcoming new home from Housing Choices enables me to trust and hope and connect again – for which I am ever grateful.” Dean
“My impulse to be social had bled out. But my safe welcoming new home from Housing Choices enables me to trust and hope and connect again– for which I am ever grateful.”
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