Wheelchair-bound resident Merissa told water and mould damaged unit in Pimlico is liveable
A Queensland mum who lives with cerebral palsy and an electric wheelchair has nowhere to go after being told her water-damaged and mould-ridden unit is ‘liveable’ by the Department of Housing.
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A Townsville mum who lives with cerebral palsy and is bound to an electric wheelchair is in limbo after being told her flood-damaged and mould-ridden home is “liveable” by the Department of Housing.
Resident Merissa has lived on Granville Street in Pimlico for the past six years in a ground-level unit.
A pile of her wrecked belongings now sit on the kerb, awaiting council collection.
A few small boxes remain of sentimental items which were able to be saved.
The unit, which has extensive mould and water damage from the recent flooding event, has been deemed liveable by the Department of Housing, despite most of Marisa’s belongings being unsalvageable and damage to the unit’s walls and floors.
Told she has to leave her temporary accommodation at a hotel and move to another location, Merissa now has nowhere to go as she cannot move back into her unit which is riddled with mould and water damage.
Federal Member for Herbert Phillip Thompson received a distress call on February 2 during the height of the flooding event, saying Merissa needed help after water had begun coming into her unit and she was unable to get out.
She and her daughter, who called SES, emergency services and taxi companies, were struggling to find help quickly.
Due to not living in the black zone, she was not a priority for evacuation assistance.
With her disability, staying at an evacuation centre would not have been an option for Merissa either, due to her needing care in the morning and night and help getting out of her chair into a bed.
Mr Thompson called several of his friends who came to assist and were able to move Merissa into a vehicle, her wheelchair onto a trailer and take her to temporary accommodation.
Dawn Kapernick has been helping Merissa, who is the mother of Ms Kapernick’s young son’s support worker.
She said when the floods began and water starting entering Merissa’s house they jumped into action, but her and her partner were at a loss at how to help remove her from her house.
That’s when they reached out to Mr Thompson who rounded up some friends to help out, moving Merissa and lifting her heavy wheelchair into a garden trailer to move her to safety.
“We had to get four boys to go over and pick her up,” she said.
Ms Kapernick says she has tried numerous options to try and find Merissa somewhere to live.
“We can’t fit her into our house, we aren’t able to get her into our driveway and our house isn’t wheelchair accessible,” she said.
“I’ve tried to get her into Glendale [residential aged care] for some respite care but she’s only 51 so they won’t accept her, so we are running out of options.
“We have tried to look at NDIS housing for her and that’s a very long process, you’ve got to have funding for that. We’ve rung Red Cross and they have been trying to help.”
Ms Kapernick said according to Merissa and her daughter, the house had a leak on the back wall during the 2019 floods which was reported, but nothing was done to fix it.
With Merissa losing most of her clothes, furniture, teddies and keepsakes to water damage and mould, Ms Kapernick says photos of the damage were sent to the Department of Housing, but the response was that the building/property is ‘liveable’ and it was recommended that she would just have to throw items away.
“Even if I wanted to go over and clean this apartment ready for her to go in, I don’t think its even in a state [to live in] because if we clean everything they are going to send her back with rotting walls and plasterboard.”
“She doesn’t have a car, she isn’t able to navigate this herself. She has to rely on other people for help.”
Now Merissa has been told to leave her temporary accommodation and has moved to another hotel for the time being.
Ms Kapernick said the unit was not in a fit state to live in and it was saddening to see a ‘vulnerable person be treated like this’.
She said the last she heard from the Department of Housing on Monday was that they were trying to find a more suitable permanent home for Merissa.
She has been told she can stay in her temporary accommodation until March 3rd.
Adding salt to the wounds, Merissa’s suburb of Pimlico is not eligible for federal government financial assistance.
Mr Thompson has been calling on the federal government to extend the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment to the entire Townsville local government area.
“I got told that they will do things on a case-by-case basis. It’s too messy,” he said.
“We are talking about people that have had damage to their homes and belongings. We are talking about vulnerable people.
“It’s not good enough to have all these people in Canberra and wherever look through a very skewed microscope and then tell people like Merissa that she is not eligible.”
He said it was concerning to see how Merissa and others in the community were being treated.
“It doesn’t matter is someone has a large family, they are a single parent, someone with a disability, it doesn’t matter. You should get treated with respect,” he said.
She said another issue raised in this “mess” was the lack of disability accessible hotel rooms in Townsville and the breakdown in communication between organisations when it comes to helping people with disabilities in a natural disaster event.
“If she was made to go back into this house and another event happened at the level of the 2019 floods I don’t know how they would move her again and help get all her stuff out,” Ms Kapernick said.
The Department of Housing and Public Works said in a statement on Monday afternoon they were “unable to discuss the specifics of individual cases due to privacy”, but could confirm they were working with Merissa to “support her short-term and longer-term housing needs” and anyone who needs housing assistance should contact 13 QGOV (13 7468).
Originally published as Wheelchair-bound resident Merissa told water and mould damaged unit in Pimlico is liveable
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