Bella Ranieri’s desperate search to find home after death of partner Bernard Morrow in M1 accident
A mum of two-year-old twins, expecting her third child any day, has revealed her pain after not only losing the love of her life in an M1 accident – but being left with nowhere to live. This is her story.
Gold Coast
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A Gold Coast mum to young twins - with a third child on the way - has paid a heartbreaking final farewell to her partner and “best friend” killed in a horror motorbike smash.
Bella Ranieri, who has two-year-old twins Jasper and Violet, is distraught after losing partner Bernard Morrow in the accident on the M1 at Chinderah early on February 5.
The 27-year-old rider had crashed his motorbike on the overpass above, tumbling to the motorway below.
Even more tragic, Ms Ranieri is any day expecting her third child. She is also desperately trying to find somewhere to live, saying Queensland Housing Department staff had told her to stop showing up at their Robina office.
Following inquiries from the Bulletin, Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon has since ordered her department to offer “whatever support she might need”.
The nightmare began for Ms Ranieri when a friend showed her a news article saying police were unable to identify a body on the M1.
She said she knew instantly it was her partner.
“He went over that little overpass on the way to Murwillumbah and flipped onto the M1. I just don’t know how it happened.
“The whole next day I didn’t even know he was dead.
“I was at a friend’s house. I was with his mum, because we were both looking for him. It had been a while since we heard from him.
“The friend I was with, they said there had been a really bad motorbike accident that morning at 5.30. I had a look at the article and I just knew it was him.
“So his mum rang up and the police came around. And that’s how they found out.
“It was such a shock.”
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Speaking through tears, Ms Ranieri said with two-year-old twins to look after, and her third child due any day, she did not know how she would continue without the partner she affectionately called Bernie.
“(I knew him for) 10 years. We were best friends for years first before we dated,” she said.
“He was my closest and best friend ever, and my partner. He was just so nice. The twins, they loved him. It was just so tragic.
“I wanted them all to have a dad, and one didn’t even get to meet him. I can’t believe it.
“He was such a good dad. He was so excited for this baby. More than me. It’s just such a shame.”
Compounding her stress and desperate grief is the family’s difficult search for a home.
The couple had been desperately trying to find a rental before Mr Morrow’s passing.
“Me and Bernie were looking for a place together for at least a year. We’ve just been staying with friends and family and whoever we can. And hotels.
“We were already so stressed. We had applied for a million private rentals but had no success. Every property there’d be a million people. No one wants kids.
“When I say I’ve got twins and another one on the way, it’s no reply. It’s hard.”
CONTRIBUTE TO THE GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN HERE
Following Mr Morrow’s death Ms Ranieri returned to the Housing Department for help, who the couple had already been in touch with for months.
She hoped her circumstances would mean she would be put on a priority list. But she was to be disappointed.
“I’ve gone to housing in Robina - several times. I did get accepted and put on the list,” she said.
“I went in and told them about Bernie as well, and it’s getting more extreme now because I’ll obviously have nowhere to go and they’ve not helped me at all.
“I’ve tried other organisations, St Vinnies, and they might be able to offer some kind of emergency accommodation, but it would just be like a studio or something. Right now, I’m about to give birth. I can’t just pack up and go and live in a studio with no kitchen with my babies.
“But I’ve told them (Housing Department staff) I’ll take a one bedroom if I have to. I’ll do anything. And they told me not to come in any more.
“At Robina they said it, because I kept going in there. People said, if I go in and nag and tell them I really need somewhere, they’ll help. But they just said, don’t come in any more. Even if you come in with your bags packed and your twins, we can’t help you.
“So I’m not knowing what to do.”
Ms Ranieri said staff at Robina had said it was better for her to communicate by phone or email. But that had also proven difficult.
“They’re like, there’s no need, don’t come in, you can ring up. But then I ring up and they don’t answer. The fact they haven’t replied to my emails, I’m like, wow.”
In response to questions from the Bulletin, Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon said her department had reached out to Ms Ranieri and her family on Thursday.
“This is a tragic circumstance, and my thoughts are with her and her family,” Ms Scanlon said.
“When I was advised of Ms Ranieri’s circumstances, I asked my department to follow up, reach out again and offer accommodation and whatever support she may need.
“We’ve significantly increased funding for renters and people at risk of homelessness, and it’s my expectation that anyone who needs support gets it.”
In the meantime, Ms Ranieri is staying at her mother’s Mudgeeraba unit, where she sleeps on the sofa. Her mother is due to move soon to an even smaller unit.
A GoFundMe appeal has been set up to help her.
“Mum’s been so amazing. She’s been so good. That’s why I don’t know how I haven’t had the baby yet. I’ve been so stressed,” Ms Ranieri said.
“I feel like a burden, being here in mum’s lounge room again. But I know she loves me, so she’s helped me.
“But Bernie was always there for me, did everything for me, so it’s just hard doing it all alone again.”
CONTRIBUTE TO THE GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN HERE
AFFORDABLE HOUSING ADVOCATE CALLS FOR CHANGE
An affordable housing advocate says the tragic case of Bella Ranieri – unable to find a home despite having two-year-old twins, a baby due, and losing her partner in an M1 accident – shows the housing system is “broken”.
However Tamika Smith, who helped the family of slain Kelly Wilkinson find a new home, said it could be turned around with the right policies from state and federal governments.
“For two years, I worked as a philanthropist to see the home for the Kelly Wilkinson family be established as I did not think it was acceptable to tell them to wait the average 10 year time frame. Bella has waited for over a year now,” Ms Smith said.
“About to give birth and with two-year-old twins, Bella has just said goodbye to her partner in a sudden accident.
“It is a tragedy to think, this is the day we live in when she also has to face the prospect of nowhere to live. The system is broken.
“Whilst social housing, once equated to four per cent of the total housing supply, we are already down to three per cent and well on track to reduce that to near one per cent based on political announcements that are portrayed as an accomplishment without reading the fine print.
“Tough times will never cease to exist however the state of our housing system can be turned around with the right policies.”
Ms Smith said data showed Australia was on track to miss Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s target of 1.2 million new homes in five years by approximately 400,000.
She said the solution was to incentivise the private sector to build more new units.
“We need to focus on incentivising the supply by a sector who can deliver,” she said.
“This could take shape in the form of expedited approvals and incentives on the cost of delivery.
“What is being done to make a home more affordable, how are you incentivising those who can supply and is your priority on building bigger governments or more houses?
“If nothing is done to shift the course of action, we can only concede we have a system working for itself, and not for the people it serves.
“Either (governments) engage a sector that can assist or take twice as long to try and do it (themselves), which we know is not working.
“But whilst you (governments) take your time deliberating your next announcement, just know one woman a week dies in domestic violence whilst she has no place safe to call home.”
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