GoFundMe campaign established to save the house of Royce Wells who faces eviction if it is not repaired

A PUBLIC campaign to repair the house of an Adelaide man facing eviction has quickly raised hundreds of dollars.

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A GOFUNDME campaign has been set up for an Adelaide man facing the prospect of homelessness after the state housing authority declared his house, known to locals at the “House of Psychedelia”, unfit for habitation.

The page to assist Royce Wells restore running water and install a working bathroom and kitchen has generated hundreds of dollars of donations in the day since it was established.

Mr Wells, 75, and his supporters face a race against time to get the house back up to living standards before he once again faces eviction on March 7.

Eastwood resident Royce Wells is facing eviction from his dilapidated home. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

The original eviction date was February 2, giving Mr Wells only two days to vacate the house.

The property on Fullarton Rd was a wedding gift to Mr Wells’ grandmother in 1915 and has been his lifelong home.

More than a century of habitation has not been kind to the house and Mr Wells, who has subsisted on a disability pension and now an aged pension, has only been able to make temporary repairs.

The water has been cut off since the mid-1990s and a community of possums has made a new life for themselves in the back rooms of the property.

The head of the Housing Authority described the condition of the house as the worst he had ever seen.

Royce Wells in the room at his Eastwood home where he spends most of his time. Picture: Matt Turner

The cost of bringing the property up to living standards has been estimated at $25,000.

Mr Wells has said he will try to thank every donor, immortalising them in an artwork or plaque at the property.

The GoFundMe campaign specifies that the money will go towards replacing the most degraded part of the house including “a living space, a bathroom, a toilet and a laundry” as well as repairing and restoring gas and electricity to the house.

The house has deemed as unfit and unsafe.

Within the worn walls of the house are a lifetime of memories for Mr Wells as well as thousands of books, records and memorabilia from his time with the Department of Mines in the 1980s.

You can find the campaign link here: https://www.gofundme.com/adelaideshouseofpsychedelia

Visit the House of Psychedelia’s new Facebook page here