Help 78yo Tracy Who Has Cancer & Is Being Evicted

Our 78 year old mother Tracy Dunston has lung cancer and was given her sixth Notice to Vacate in 19 months by landlords determined to evict her during Australia's worst rental housing crisis and cost-of-living crisis. The latest Notice is immediate as the home she's rented for 12 years in Bendigo, Victoria, was declared uninhabitable due to mould. We're looking for a new home for Mum and fundraising to supplement her rent for 12 months to give her security, cover a bond and moving costs, and buy desperately-needed new furniture and appliances.

Older Australians have been hardest hit by the rental housing crisis and elderly women are the fastest-growing group of homeless Australians. Demand for housing is far greater than supply, rents are soaring, there are no affordable rental properties for aged pensioners, and empathetic real estate agents and landlords are rare. A recent report revealed there's no end in sight for the housing crisis.

Tracy is frail, she's in the middle of cancer treatment, and she can't move away from Bendigo, where she has access to free treatment, medical specialists, wide-ranging community health support (from occupational therapists to physiotherapists), and high level care at an excellent hospital staffed by some extraordinary people.

Tracy receives the aged pension, no longer has assets or savings (the savings in her bank account were depleted by a fundraising call centre scam between 2020-23 on behalf of many of Australia's high profile charities), and Tracy desperately needs a new rental home that is safe, stable and secure, so she can focus on her ongoing treatment and recovery.

How These Funds Will Be Used

Your donations will be used to supplement Tracy's rent for 1 year* to give her some security, stability and peace of mind after 19 stressful months of housing insecurity and being at risk of homelessness. Your donations will also be used to cover a bond, moving costs, and to buy (desperately-needed) 'new' (secondhand) furniture and replace damaged appliances (see the images below).

*2 years rent would be incredible after a stressful 19 months of housing insecurity and extraordinary stress, but 1 year would be amazing.

Tracy's Cancer Treatment: Where Things Are At

After I finally found Mum a new GP in January this year (after a year looking! There aren't enough doctors and few are taking on new patients), Dr Chan ordered numerous tests, including various scans, as Tracy had back pain and was increasingly breathless when walking, needing to stop to rest regularly. They found a co-joined double tumour in her lung and also identified polyps in her colon.

After 4 months of appointments, tests, X-rays, scans etc Tracy has recently completed radiation treatment at the excellent Bendigo Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and has started the long road to recovery. Her specialists tell her that she'll feel worse before she feels better, due to inflammation on the lung.

Tracy is increasingly tired, sleeping in late and has some pain and general discomfort. But Tracy gave up smoking and has recently started a twice-weekly eight-week pulmonary rehabilitation programme here in Eaglehawk and she is remarkably positive given the circumstances. She'll have a lung scan in two months to see how successful the radiation was.

Next, they'll remove the suspicious polyps in her colon. On Tuesday, the day after Tracy is meant to vacate her home, she has a pre-colonoscopy appointment with her oncologist. She has 6 appointments this week!

Tracy's Housing Situation: Evicted from Her 'Forever Home'

I've spent an extraordinarily stressful 19 months looking for a new rental property for Tracy in Bendigo, Victoria, after her landlords, Mum's (now-estranged) brother (my uncle) and his wife served Tracy the first Notice to Vacate her home in late 2023 - the same home that her brother encouraged her to move to in 2013 from Perth, Western Australia, on the other side of the country, after previous tenants moved out. "Stay as long as you like, Tracy, it can be your forever home," we all remember him saying.

I returned to Australia from my adopted home in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on 30 December 2023 to help Mum find a new rental property. The application process is completely online in Australia these days and Tracy isn't tech savvy, doesn't own a laptop, and struggles to use her phone let alone a computer. Moving house is also hard work and stressful, and I wanted to take that on for Mum. I had a 7-kilo carry-on and told my husband I'd be back in 1-2 months. I had no idea how bad Australia's housing rental crisis was. I'm still here 19 months later, and my poor husband is still in Cambodia.

During my time here here I've applied for almost a hundred rental properties for Tracy, attending the same number of inspections, with 30-40 other applicants looking for properties every time. Yet despite taking time to complete persuasive detailed applications, Mum has never been offered a property. And she's not alone in this experience. We've met many older women at inspections; one was living in a friend's garden shed, another in a friend's garage, one sleeping on a relative's sofa.

How did we manage to keep Tracy in her home for 19 months? Every Notice to Vacate* that her landlord served was invalid and a Possession Orders applied for were struck out by VCAT, Victoria's civil administrative tribunal. Each time they issued a new notice, it gave us another 60 days to continue the search for a new home for Mum. (*There were 5 Notices to Vacate until the latest!)

It has been an extraordinary stressful period for Tracy, worrying about where she's going to live, and for me also, disheartened and anxious if I'll ever find Mum a new home, and if I'll ever get back to my husband. I've had dangerously high blood pressure as a result and have ended up in Emergency a few times; and Tracy now has high blood pressure.

Tracy's landlord obviously has a right to sell his house. But we hoped for more patience and empathy during a nationwide housing rental crisis, especially from a family member to whom we had once been very close, right up until the pandemic, a family member who is a psychiatrist specialising in geriatrics, a family member who once upon a time would have said "Tracy, we want to sell the house, come and live with us."

Instead, Tracy's brother served a Notice of Proposed Increase in Rent, on a property to which he's never done any maintenance, which has required many urgent repairs - repairs Mum hadn't pressed her brother to do, as she was scared he might evict her.

As we didn't believe the rent increase was justified, considering the state of the house, we pursued the repairs. Tracy's brother hired a real estate property manager who inspected her house 2.5 weeks ago.

Of a list of 7 urgent repairs (and scores of non-urgent repairs) only one was completed (a lock fixed on the front door; and, yes, we've been living in a house with a front door that didn't lock!). Then on Thursday, the real estate agent emailed a Notice to Vacate immediately due to mould - the worst of which is in a room in a part of the house Tracy doesn't use: the spare bedroom that my husband and I used to sleep in prior to the pandemic when we visited Mum annually for a month or so.

Tracy's General State of Health

Tracy is recovering from lung cancer radiation treatment and will have a scan in two months. Mum remains independent, doing the slow walk into Eaglehawk twice a week to buy her beloved crossword and puzzle books (she's obsessed!) and do a little shopping. As I took on cooking duties when I returned, preparing her delicious home-cooked food (trying to fatten her up), I do the bulk of the shopping. Tracy still likes to keep the house neat and tidy, does the dishes, washes her clothes, and enjoys pottering in the wild garden you see above, which she loves. She will greatly miss this dilapidated old house when she moves. But she's not yet ready for a nursing home, nor do I believe she should be in one; I saw a grandmother and great grandmother deteriorate dramatically after being admitted to nursing homes.

However, Tracy has poor vision (Mum has macular degeneration and poor intermediate vision), poor hearing (she's now wearing cool tiny new high-tech hearing devices; again, thanks to Australia's excellent free services for aged pensioners), and struggles doing some things. This is largely as a result of the fractures from a 2006 Perth accident when she was hit by a car, sustained a traumatic brain injury, and spent most of the year in an induced coma and rehabilitation, learning how to function again.

I've been caring for Mum for the last 19 months, cooking, shopping and cleaning, but we have some aged care support in place to cover transport and social support in her new home, and we're trying to get her more aged care support, for her post-move, when I'm not here.

As we can have often have a handful of appointments some weeks, I've not been able to work at full capacity during the time I've been here. So when more aged care support is in place for Mum, I need to return to my husband in Cambodia and re-boot our neglected business, our website and cookbook projects, and make a living again. Then I plan to return regularly, hopefully every other month. I will not abandon my mother.

What Next?

Tracy's latest Notice to Vacate date is Monday 7 July, after which her landlord will no doubt apply for yet another Possession Order. We're really hoping to find Mum a new little home before then, to avoid even more distress.

We're attending an inspection on Thursday of this snug rental unit in a retirement village that's just come on the market. I'm hoping that's a good sign! It would be perfect for Tracy. It's in Kennington on the other side of Bendigo; sadly, not in Eaglehawk, which Mum loves, and where she has a supportive community. But it looks lovely.

The bond is $1520 and the rent of the unit is $350 per week, $150 more than what Tracy currently pays. Tracy's aged pension is just over $550 a week. We're trying to fundraise to supplement her rent and cover that shortfall. I'd love to be able to fundraise enough to cover a year's worth of rent, although, as I said, 2 years would be amazing. We're really hoping Tracy gets this unit, as most other properties currently on the rental sites are completely unaffordable at around $400-450, so $200-$250 more than what she's currently paying a week.

But why would this application process be different to our other unsuccessful experiences applying for properties? There'll still be other applicants, but we're hoping this property manager and rental provider are more empathetic than others have been, especially considering it's a retirement village, considering Tracy's imminent eviction date, and considering her health. We're also hoping that a healthier bank balance with 1 year's rent will also help persuade a real estate agent and landlord to take her on as a tenant.

Tracy will also need to pay for movers, and, as her current house was mostly furnished, we'll need to buy Mum a new bed, sofa bed for when I stay (see a pic of the water-damaged 'futon' bed, below, which my uncle refuses to replace), dining table chairs (we have my grandparents dining table), a washing machine, and fridge. Tracy also has many damaged* appliances to replace that I had to throw out when I returned, including a microwave and air fryer that she needs to prepare food when I'm not here to cook for her. A new air fryer is a priority.

(*I'm reluctant to reveal how they were damaged, as it's pretty gross, but let's say it's because Tracy's landlord hasn't had a pest exterminator into the property in the 12.5 years she has lived here... Mum lost her sense of smell when she was hit by the car in 2006 and that combined with her poor vision meant she wasn't aware of the, ahem, damage being done... thankfully!)

If Tracy doesn't get the $350 a week unit, we'll have to adjust the figure we're seeking. If we were to get more donations than needed, we'd donate the funds she doesn't need to an organisation that assists vulnerable women or supports homeless people. I'll keep you posted and make adjustments as needed.

We'll provide regular updates here over the coming week, but if you have any questions (or suggestions or ideas!), please ask away.

Tracy's daughter,

Lara Dunston

THANK YOU

Lewellyn, thank you, greatly appreciated!

Aunty Val, thank you so much. Mum asked me to pass on her gratitude. We've swallowed our pride to publish this page; we're a little teary now. It's heartening to know there's family out there that still cares. Let's reconnect after I move Mum and things settle down, life is still too overwhelming right now, Lara xx

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Why Doesn't Tracy Move to a More Affordable Town/City?

Australian cities and towns are some of the least affordable in the world. I don't think there is anywhere more affordable than Bendigo. Rental housing in Australia is generally unaffordable. Plus just moving across to the other site of Bendigo will be an effort for Tracy; I'm doing all the sorting, donating, packing, and heavy lifting. Plus Tracy has access to excellent free medical care at Bendigo Hospital, many community health support services, and a plan in place for ongoing treatment, including the imminent colonoscopy, more radiation if needed, and recovery support.

Why Can't Tracy Live With Lara in Cambodia?

When I returned on 30 December 2023 my plan was to take Mum back to Cambodia but I didn't realise how frail she was. We used to talk on the phone weekly, but she didn't ever say she was in poor health, just that she didn't want to move overseas. After her radiation treatment, she's increasingly tired, sleeps late, and gets exhausted after an appointment. Cambodia's hospitals are poor and expensive.

Why Can't Tracy Live with Her Other Daughter Felicia in Perth?

Aside from Mum being midway through treatment and having the medical care, support etc here in Bendigo, as explained above, my sister Felicia works full-time, works weekend teaching horse-riding, lives in a compact 2-bedroom house with my niece, and can't boot out her own daughter.

Doesn't Tracy Have Friends She Can Stay With?

Some of Tracy's friends died, others are interstate; her closest friend died a few years ago. (Her beloved cat of 12 years, Precious, also died in 2023). Tracy lost contact with many friends after dad died of pancreatic cancer 25 years ago, other friends after her 2006 accident. Dad was the extrovert and Mum the introvert and she often struggled to make new friends without him. Tracy moved to WA after Dad died, and from WA to Victoria at her brother's encouragement. He was her main social companion until the relationship bewilderingly deteriorated (for reasons she doesn't understand) and he and his wife tried to evict Tracy to sell their house, one of three properties they owned.

Why Can't Tracy's Brother Pay for Replacement of the Damaged Furniture and Appliances?

We asked that Tracy's brother contribute to the replacement of the mouldy water-damaged 'futon' sofa bed (damaged by water leaks and mould in 'the mouldy room'; photo below) and appliances (damaged by rodent droppings, as he never had a pest exterminator in; photo below), along with Tracy's moving costs, bond etc (as he encouraged her to move here, with the promise it would be her 'forever home'; and in the past, if they needed to sell the house, he would have invited her to live with him; they have 20+ rooms). But he refused. It's disappointing, as our family have always supported each other and back in the day my parents supported him.