A Victorian family is facing homelessness in a matter of weeks after the rental property they’ve called home for the past 17 years was sold out from under them.
Janelle Bruce has developed scabs across her face from stress-picking at it and her daughter Mackenzie may be forced to drop out of school instead of preparing for her high school finals exams.
“We feel terrible. Like, the stress level is just unbelievable,” Janelle told Today.
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“We’ve been looking at houses for a couple of months and we’ve applied for over a hundred.”
Janelle said Mackenzie is in the middle of Year 12 and the stress is affecting her as she misses classes and breaks down in tears at work.
“We’re not sleeping. It’s affecting our health,” she said.
“I have scabs on my face because when I stress, I pick and my doctor said my blood pressure has gone up even though I’m on medication. It’s just horrible.”
Mackenzie told Today she is lucky her mum tries to shield her from the pressure and stress of having to find a new rental and pack their home up, but a conversation with one of her teachers made her realize how dire the family’s situation is.
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“I realized it was really bad when I was talking to one of my teachers and they said to me ‘I have a tent in my shed that we don’t use anymore and if you need it we can just give it to you’ and that’s when it really hit home,” she said.
The Bruce family are not the first Today has reported on who are facing homelessness or moving into a tent in winter – but the reality of this happening for them is sinking in.
“The thought of going into a tent, we don’t even know where to go. Where are you allowed to pitch a tent?” Janelle said.
“We don’t have heating and it gets to sometimes minus 5C here overnight. What do you do with yourself during the day, where do you shower? Things like this, we have no idea to be honest.”
Salvation Army Major Brendan Nottle told Today it isn’t just on state or federal governments to help the many families who are in trouble.
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“Secure, safe, affordable housing should be a fundamental human right for all Australians and yet we’re hearing time and time and time again that people not only can’t afford the housing but there’s no housing available for them to access,” he said.
“We can sit back and say governments aren’t doing enough but the reality is – we cannot spend our way out of this issue.
“This has to be a priority and as a community, as a society – it needs to be top of mind for all of us.
“As a community, all of us have a contribution to make – businesses, small and large, not for profits, unions.”
If you too are struggling with the national rental crisis, you can get helpful information from the Salvation Army
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