Resident Stories

Arncliffe resident George, who was homeless prior to moving into the estate, has embraced his new community and even began his own cooking tutorials for fellow tenants.

George was living in his car for months after having been released from jail and struggling with depression and anxiety. He was initially housed in a 1-bedroom apartment in Arncliffe, supported by not-for-profit organisation Neami National. After he got joint custody of his children, we helped him move into a 3-bedroom apartment in the block, so that he could have his family visit.

Living in the property, with the support of Evolve Housing’s Arncliffe Community Hub, has given George a new lease on life. He has participated in many social activities with his fellow residents, including beach visits, and also got involved with the on-site community garden. “[Living in Arncliffe has had a] big impact, huge impact … socially, I’m talking to a couple of people now instead of locking myself away. People are there and genuine and helping. Carrie-Ann and Paea are the best people ever; they’re genuine,” George said.

As well as making new friends with his neighbours, George has been holding cooking classes at the property, sharing his skills and passion for food with other tenants. 7 people attended his first class, in which George showed how to cook chicken schnitzel, mashed potatoes, butter and honey carrots, mushroom gravy, caramel slice and cherry ripe.

“I did cooking for three years back when I was a young fella, but I’ve got a passion for cooking. I lost it for a couple of years, and now it’s back. This is just my way out of the depression and anxiety; cooking and feeling happy. It seems to make other people happy too.”

When Gertrude found herself without a home in her late teens, she was forced to couch surf for years until a visit to the Evolve Housing for Youth office changed her life.

Gertrude, aged 27, now lives happily with her fiancée Martin and their two children Zephaniah (5 months old) and Elijah (3 years old) in an affordable housing property in Penrith. She works part-time as an in-home aged carer and has ambitions of buying her own home one day soon.

But Gertrude’s life wasn’t always this serene. She became homeless during her first year of university, after a dispute with her sister led to her being forced out of the Canberra home they were living in together.

With both parents living overseas, Gertrude wasn’t sure of what to do, but eventually began couch surfing and living with other people for short stints. She applied for public housing in both Canberra, where there were no vacancies, and in Sydney, where she was told there was a 12-year waitlist.

In the meantime, not having a fixed address meant that Gertrude struggled to establish herself in life like other people of her age were doing. “People sometimes judge people that are homeless for not working but it’s hard when you don’t know where you’re going to sleep because if you’re being moved to another state or something, you obviously have to quit that job, or you can’t make it there on time because you don’t have the money to go for your interviews,” she said.

Gertrude’s fortunes changed in 2015 when a friend suggested that she get in contact with Evolve Housing for Youth. “A friend of mine had been there before and she just said, ‘why don’t you try these people? ’… I’d been to all these different people and it’s either, oh you’re not pregnant or you’re not this or you’re not old enough or you’re not this enough [to qualify for social housing],” she said.

Despite her scepticism, Gertrude made an appointment with Evolve Housing, and was shocked when she was offered a studio apartment in Auburn, which was ready to move into just two weeks later — a huge difference from the years-long waitlists she had previously encountered.

She accepted, and became a client of Evolve Housing, which gave her access to a caseworker who assisted her with her education and employment goals. With the stability that long-term, secure housing provided, she was able to complete a Diploma in Business Management and then later a Certificate 4 in Community Service.

After six months in her Auburn studio, Gertrude moved to a larger one-bedroom apartment in Merrylands. When she got pregnant with her first child, we offered her a two-bedroom apartment in Parramatta. Finally, in 2018, she moved on from Evolve Housing for Youth when she saw an advertisement on realestate.com.au for an affordable housing apartment in a new development in Penrith.

It wasn’t until she spoke with the property manager that she realised the real estate agency, EchoRealty, was a division of Evolve Housing, meaning that her journey with the organisation has lasted 5 years.

Since moving to their new home, Gertrude and Martin have appreciated the beautiful views the apartment offers and the proximity to public transport, shops, and local parks.

Gertrude’s experience with Evolve Housing for Youth was so positive that she has referred her friends to the organisation, and would encourage any young person who is homeless or at risk of homelessness to get in touch.

“Contact Evolve. Just go there, no matter who you’ve been with, how many nos you’ve gotten or scary situations or people you’ve seen, just contact them because they have a place for literally everyone, that’s the good thing about them,” she said.

“Even if they don’t have a place they make sure they sit down with you and help you find a place. I’ve referred so many friends to them and it’s been the same situation for all of them, they’ve all gotten a place within 2 weeks … so it’s just based on your circumstance, just talk to them even if it’s just counselling or you just need someone to talk to. You get everything.”

After living in an Evolve Housing property for almost two decades, Miajan decided to join the Resident Advisory Group to share his ideas and help to shape a better tenant experience for his peers.

Miajan joined the Resident Advisory Group (RAG) in February 2020, as one of 15 new members that were engaged as part of the group’s restructure that occurred in late 2019.

The restructure was designed to ensure that the RAG represents a broader, more diverse range of Evolve Housing tenants who can share their viewpoints. It also involved changes to the way the RAG operates to create more effective procedures and enhance dialogue between the group and Evolve Housing staff.

Members meet once a month for a few hours to discuss important issues that may be affecting tenants. They sometimes meet with representatives from different departments of Evolve Housing to better understand the organisation’s operations.

Miajan said that he has enjoyed the experience of being part of the RAG so far and was motivated to participate as a way to give back to his community. “One of the reasons was because we have been living in this property since 2002. We’ve gotten a lot of experience, I wanted to share those experiences with others,” he said.

The focus of the group and its discussions are always how to improve the lives of Evolve Housing tenants, and despite the different backgrounds and geographic locations of tenants, there are some core issues that seem to affect all residents.

“In our group, tenants are the centre, so all issues around the tenants are discussed there,” Miajan said.

“For example, the issue of rent assessment…the method of payment and how they can pay, the issue of maintenance comes up, the issue of security… those are the things that are coming up.

“Activities are proposed, which type of activities we can hold and when they can happen. The most important thing is communication and educating people about their rights, their responsibilities, and those sort of things. Also, the issue of skills and training comes up. These are the main issues so far that came up from the RAG meetings and of course for every issue there are sub-activities and other issues.”

The group has a primarily advisory purpose, providing suggestions from a tenant perspective to management for consideration, and a report is written up for each meeting including minutes and action items.

“The ideas that come through the RAG, that will help the Evolve management team while they are working on policy issues, they’ll develop strategies that will help them … we nicely pressure them,” Miajan said.

Miajan, his wife Huma, and their four sons have been living in their property at Lidcombe since 2002, and were originally tenants of Cumberland Housing, which was one of the predecessors of Evolve Housing.

He came to Australia in 1995, after spending his childhood and early adulthood in Afghanistan then living in Pakistan as a refugee for 11 years with his family.

Miajan has previously worked as a college teacher in Afghanistan before migrating to Pakistan, since 2002 he has worked for the government of Afghanistan, as an adviser, and has also worked with international non-government organisations.

While Miajan said that he loves his home country of Afghanistan, like any parent, he was worried about his children’s future and wanted to give them a safe life in Australia.

In addition to his volunteer role with Evolve Housing, Miajan also contributes to his local community by working as an interpreter in a variety of contexts such as health care settings and courts. Miajan said that he and his family appreciated having the stability of long-term rental housing located in a friendly community.

“First of all, they [Evolve Housing] give us a permanent address to live in, it gives you peace of mind, you have a roof on your top and a place to live in. This was the most important thing,” he said.

“Secondly, the area is pretty good. There are housing properties that have a lot of issues but here we don’t have any of those issues, it is good for kids and there’s a park…. We are very happy.”

Aspiring doctor Mymy has been able to rely on the support of an Evolve Housing Keep Educating Yourself (KEY) grant to help fund her undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

Twenty-three year-old Mymy first applied for a grant to assist her while she studied a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of New South Wales, focusing on neuroscience.

She then participated in the implementation of a clinical trials program that used online software to help older people change their thought processes and challenge their fears of leaving their homes.

After completing her first degree, Mymy decided to pursue her desire to become a doctor and enrolled in her first year of medicine at Western Sydney University, again accessing another KEY grant for financial support.

“The grant helped me pay for uni fees, textbooks, computers, things I needed to get me through the year,” Mymy said. “This year, medicine is very costly. There’s the stethoscope, the lab coats and the textbooks.”

Mymy has been in an Evolve Housing property in Merrylands for 10 years with her mum and sister, and said that living in community housing has been a positive experience for her family.

“Evolve Housing has helped out a lot, especially as a child of a single mum. It’s made life a lot easier. Our apartment was quite convenient for me and my sister when we went to high school. The location is great and Evolve Housing is always willing to help us out with anything we need,” she said.

After Mymy graduates, she is interested in becoming a respiratory specialist or a psychiatrist, and said that she thinks that her experience living in community housing in western Sydney will allow her to connect with patients.

“I feel like I’m going to become a better doctor because of where I’ve grown up in a way that I’ve seen people who come from varying different backgrounds financially; I’m not close-minded. The more you learn about people, the better you’re going to be when you become a practitioner. You need to be able to communicate with people by having experience with people.”

After moving to Australia with her mother, who had recently remarried, Nethangie experienced almost a decade of hardship, moving from house to house, until she settled in Harts Landing. Now with her living circumstances finally stable, Nethangie is free to pursue her passion for medical science without having to worry about the future.

Nethangie, who will turn 21 in December, moved to Sydney from Sri Lanka with her mother Ajanthie in 2009 when she was just 11 years old.

Despite the cultural barriers she faced, and the fact that she didn’t speak much English in Sri Lanka, Nethangie quickly mastered her new language and settled into school life with ease.

While Nethangie flourished in the classroom, her home life was marred by domestic violence, and in late 2011 her mother Ajanthie made the decision to leave an abusive relationship and move with her daughter into a women’s refuge in Doonside.

The next few years of Nethangie’s life were plagued with uncertainty and constant uprooting, as the family shuffled back and forth between the women’s refuge and the home Ajanthie jointly owned with her ex-partner.

After a stressful court case, the home was finally sold in 2013 and the pair moved into temporary affordable housing specifically for victims of domestic violence. While it was a relief to find a home, Nethangie said she struggled with the uncertainty of this period of her life.

“In terms of moving houses, my school was really helpful and mum had a really good caseworker, but it was just the uncertainty of things that made it difficult,” Nethangie said.

“I don’t cope with uncertainty well; I like things to be settled and to know what’s going to happen.”

After enduring so many moves in such a short amount of time, Nethangie and Ajanthie were again packing boxes in March 2014, shifting to a private rental property in Werrington using a government subsidy.

In the meantime, Nethangie was still attending her old school in Quakers Hill, doing well in her studies and desperate to not add another destabilising change to a life that was already so much in flux.

Nethangie finished her HSC a year later, and gained admission to Sydney University to study a Bachelor of Medical Science. However, the uncertainty of her family’s housing situation still troubled both her and her mother.

When they saw advertisements for Evolve’s new integrated housing development, Harts Landing, in early 2018 the timing was perfect: their landlord in Werrington had just attempted to raise their rent by a significant proportion per week.

Ajanthie’s rental application to Harts Landing was successful, and the family moved yet again, this time into a secure, affordable and newly built apartment building located in a lifestyle development right next to Penrith station…and they haven’t looked back. “It’s been good, especially having everything so close.”

New residents view interior units at Harts Landing.

“Having the Westfield shopping centre on the other side of train line is really good and being able to catch the Blue Mountains Line train to university also helps,” Nethangie said.

But while the accessibility, safety and location are all major factors that appealed to the family, Nethangie said her mum also enjoyed a more aesthetic aspect of their new home: being able to see the sunrise every day from their apartment tower.

Finally settled in affordable housing, Nethangie hopes to pursue medical research and medical activism, following in the footsteps of her grandfather, who moved upward from a poor childhood to being one of Sri Lanka’s top lecturers, and also worked in research.

“I grew up in a family where education was considered a vital thing for getting yourself out of hardship,” Nethangie said.

She recently gained admission to the Honours program at Westmead Kids Institute for 2019, and

will be conducting breakthrough research on maternal immune activation.

On top of her busy study schedule, Nethangie has also been an active contributor to the community, volunteering with the Australian Red Cross and other charitable organisations.

Although Nethangie’s success is entirely due to her hard work and perseverance, she also believes that having access to affordable housing has helped her and her mother stabilise their lives and focus on pursuing their personal goals.

“If there’s one less thing, like housing, that’s taken out of the equation then you don’t have to worry about that; you can put more effort into other things that can really change your life from what it used to be”.

Growing up, Andy never imagined he would move out of his parents’ home. As one of an estimated 80 Australians living with the rare physical disability Morquio, Andy uses a wheelchair for mobility and has a range of physical characteristics that can make daily tasks difficult to manage. Now, with the help of Evolve Housing, Andy is living independently for the first time in his life, in a state-of-the-art, $2.3 million accommodation complex in Parramatta.

Like an estimated 28,000 other Australians with disability, Andy was held back in his quest to be fully independent by one major barrier – a shortage of appropriate accommodation.

Because his family home was not wheelchair accessible, many of Andy’s friends were unable to visit, and he was prevented from doing basic tasks such as cooking on his own.

Thanks to a partnership between disability service provider Northcott and Evolve, Andy now has a new place he calls home. He has his own apartment in a modern, universally accessible North Parramatta complex, made possible by the Australian Government’s $60 million Supported Accommodation Innovation Fund.

“Living here has given me a new lease on life,” Andy said. “My life has improved in just being able to catch up with mates, and not having to always rely on my parents for help getting to places. I’m also closer to work [as an Information Technology officer] which makes things easier.”

Andy is now able to socialise with his friends more, cook for himself, hang out his own washing, and generally take care of himself, improving his confidence and giving him the independence he sought.

“Not having to rely on my parents was a big thing,” Andy said. “Where I lived [before] wasn’t wheelchair accessible so I was always having to rely on someone around to help me. The kitchen wasn’t accessible so I couldn’t cook for myself.”

Since moving into his new accommodation, which features a small courtyard, Andy has been able to have his friends over more. “There’s enough room to fit a barbecue. I love to entertain when I’ve got mates over – to cook a steak while they’re inside screaming at the TV because their team is either winning or not doing so well,” he said.

“It took me a while to learn how not to make things charcoal, but I got there after a couple of months and things became edible!”

Unsurprisingly, Andy’s relationship with his parents and sister has improved drastically in the two and a half years he has been living on his own. “I’m getting on a lot better with my parents since I moved out of home,” he said. “Mum’s there for me: I can call her if I need cooking advice, without her having to take over for me. Dad also works close by so if I ever need help he can come over after work. I’m getting on a lot better with my sister now that we don’t see each other on a daily basis.”

Despite the extra obstacles Andy faces, he has chosen not to let his disability stop him from living life like most other young men his age. Andy has tattoos, likes hanging out with his mates, is a diehard fan of the Western Sydney Wanderers FC, and even captains its Powerchair Team.

“The greatest achievement for me so far, aside from moving in here and gaining much more independence, would be wheelchair sports and playing Powerchair football for the Wanderers,” he said. “We just won our first championship, which has been huge for us and something I’m really proud of. We’ve got the World Cup coming up next year in Florida and hopefully on the back of what we’ve done this season we can push to get selected for the Australian team.”

For Andy, the future is bright. “I’m really looking forward to what the future holds,” he said. “This place has really broadened my horizons and shown me what I can do independently. I’d love to maybe get a bigger house later and really grow from there.”