Tent to transitional housing

Max had been on the Territory Housing waitlist in Alice Springs for 9 years. He’s a common example of how long people have to wait, and how they get through hard times without somewhere safe or permanent to live. This is his story of moving from a tent into transitional housing.

Tent better than overcrowded home

Max was living with his mother in an overcrowded house but left because of conflict and issues with other people staying in the house. To support Max, his mother bought him a tent. He walked several kilometres out of town and set it up ‘far away from any stress or trouble’. After quite a few weeks, and after Max had settled into his new “accommodation”, our housing support team tried to find him, because a place had come up in our transitional housing.

A transitional place is important step towards permanent housing

The team spoke with his daughter, and she told them ‘turn left at the Welcome to Alice Springs sign, drive up the track and you’ll find him’. The housing team did exactly that and found Max and his tent. His new case manager Amit offered him a place to live, and explained how transitional housing works.

Max had many things to sort out in his initial weeks including participating in the transitional housing program. The goal of the program is to build capacity to get a housing reference from Anglicare NT and to expand his knowledge and awareness of support services available to him. A housing reference is required by Territory Housing before anyone is eligible for permanent public housing.

Lifted staff morale to see Max on his way to permanent home

Some of the work Amit did was to develop a strong relationship with Max, set up some money management strategies and to start looking for work possibilities that suited him. “Max was easy to work with as he had high level communication skills and an infectious positive energy. He understood that by actively participating in the program, he was completing the final step of a process that has taken almost a decade – a place of his own” said Amit.

Max has been such a great example for the whole housing team in Alice Springs. Staff often ask after him or have a chat with him when he is in the office. It has lifted staff morale to see such a clear representation of how our Housing Support Services can really impact positively on someone’s life.