A cause very close to me; I’ve been homeless for 7 years, and have been on the emergency housing waiting list, for four years. I have had to contact the Ombudsman in order to hold the Housing department accountable for their behaviour — and I do not have the energy to fight.
Many times, it’s because the room I could afford to rent was in a house that was eventually knocked down to build unaffordable apartments.
I also live with C-PTSD from trauma, and as I’ve discussed, many times, with other homeless women of various ages, being homeless starts to take its toll on your ability to think or act in ways that make sense to common people. “Why didn’t you do this, or do that?!”
Hypervigilance; Maslow’s Hierarchy; PTSD; C-PTSD; cortisol burn-out; crying; trying not to die...
Surviving activates the most primitive, reptilian brain, and while that’s operating, the neo-cortex cannot function. Asking survival-brain to do this, that, or the other, is like... asking a shark to play in the park with you. Two different worlds.
There are so many reasons that common people would just have no idea about; they don’t exist until it happens to you.
Eventually, you run out of friends or family who will host you — if you were lucky enough to ever have that.
So then you start to have no people left in your life; but it’s a slow fade...
I eventually realised that I needed to buy a van, because I just needed shelter, and I would never have a house.
I actually can’t drive, and don’t have a licence — but I thought it was a sensible decision. If I could drive, things would be so different for me.
I won’t tell you my whole life-story — lol.
I tried to drive, anyway.
But my life just got worse and worse. I moved out of Melbourne, twice — both times it went badly, and the last time, really broke me.
I spent my time building options and solutions; one of them is website called #Friendville, which connects people for building communities on farms and various properties, all over Australia. https://hellofriendville.weebly.com
And I was working on building communities even before I became homeless; what kind of a first-world has any homelessness, at all?!
But again, I don’t have the energy, stability, resources, support, nor the lightning-fast brain I once had.
My projects slow-fade, just like I do.
You can tune into my Medium posts for more solutions, in the coming weeks; along with the odd poem, or rant. ;)
Housing Alternatives Australia also works really hard (another homeless woman); her website has heaps of excellent resources for people who are still in a position to help themselves.
https://housing-alternatives.com/tag/housing-alternatives-australia/
Have a great run! It’s so Lovely of you to run for others. I’ll be thinking of you. xx
