A home violence survivor who pulled herself out of homelessness by constructing a tiny dwelling on a good friend’s property faces being kicked out on the road by council purple tape.
Teena Keys, from Geelong, south-west of Melbourne, was left homeless after dropping her enterprise through the pandemic and fleeing an abusive relationship.
In a damning indictment of Australia’s deepening housing disaster, she was rejected from greater than 60 leases and was pressured to spend three years sofa browsing and sleeping in her automobile whereas attempting to rebuild her housekeeping enterprise.
However her fortunes circled in December final 12 months when she constructed a tiny off-grid dwelling on a good friend’s 100-acre property within the rural Victorian city of Anakie.
‘I simply assume it is a answer to a giant drawback right here in Victoria. There are such a lot of individuals on the streets, so many individuals with out housing,’ Ms Keys advised Dawn.
Teena Keys (pictured), from Geelong, south-west of Melbourne , was left homeless after dropping her enterprise through the pandemic and fleeing an abusive relationship
However her fortunes circled in December final 12 months when she constructed a tiny off-grid dwelling on a good friend’s 100-acre property within the rural Victorian city of Anakie (pictured)
‘There are such a lot of ageing farmers who cannot do the work they used to do. The answer right here is to place some houses on these properties so individuals have someplace to reside.’
Nonetheless, Ms Keys now faces being turfed out after being given a deadline of 60 days to shell out 1000’s of {dollars} she does not have for a retrospective constructing allow.
‘The allow is just the start,’ she advised this system.
‘Then you must have every thing as much as code, which implies getting in trades and companies that I simply cannot afford.
‘I’m not the one individual on this state of affairs. A variety of Australians are on this boat.
‘I’ve labored my entire life. I do not get Centrelink or something. If I do not work, I do not receives a commission. It’s simply— you simply maintain getting kicked to the curb.’
Ms Keys stated she had nowhere else everlasting to go if the council pressured her out.
Ms Keys stated she had nowhere else everlasting to go if the council pressured her out of her tiny dwelling (pictured)
‘I’ll most likely sofa surf once more for just a few extra years as a result of I haven’t got an answer after this,’ she added.
A GoFundMe web page, arrange by a good friend to boost cash to permit Ms Keys to maintain her dwelling, has thus far raised $300.
‘Teena left a violent marriage with a police escort in 2019 moved again to her dwelling city Geelong just for Covid to hit and destroy her rising housekeeping enterprise,’ the fundraising web page learn.
It revealed that Ms Keys was pressured to sofa surf as a result of she was seen as a ‘high-risk renter – single lady, self-employed and her enterprise diminishing’.
The housekeeper, who depends on meals banks to eat, suffered two bouts of pneumonia and underwent surgical procedure to take away a pre-cancerous development throughout this tense time.
‘She by no means thought her life would take the flip it has with 1000’s of {dollars} and trades required to get her little cabin authorized so after 5 years she might lastly really feel grounded,’ the GoFundMe web page reads.
‘She feels this difficult slog is about to be pulled out from beneath her.’
Every day Mail Australia approached Metropolis of Better Geelong council for remark.
