Housing Gold Coast: Homeless man forced to delay prostate cancer biopsy because he and his wife live in car

A retired plumber and his wife sleeping in a car continue their desperate hunt for a rental, delaying a crucial cancer test. It’s hoped a saviour may come forward with a timely offer.

A retired plumber and his wife sleeping rough in a car on the Gold Coast continue their desperate hunt for an affordable rental, delaying a crucial cancer test.

They are hopeful a saviour may come forward with an offer of suitable accommodation.

Ian Parrish and his wife Erika have been living in their vehicle for the past five weeks, despite the 71-year-old man living with health concerns, including arthritis and worryingly high blood pressure.

Ian Parrish and his wife Erika Parrish are desperately hunting for an affordable rental in the extremely tight Gold Coast rental market. Picture: Glenn Hampson

They have been unable to find a unit in their budget and found properties they would be able to secure were dirty, felt unsafe and were “not really fit for habitation”, according to Mr Parrish.

“You feel like a second-class citizen. We just want a safe and dignified place to live,” he said.

Mr Parrish was due to undergo a biopsy in hospital on Friday after a lesion was found on his prostate during a recent MRI scan.

However, he has now pushed the test back, concerned about his wife staying in the car alone while he spends a couple of days in hospital.

“Because we live in the car, the hospital said they would keep me overnight to make sure the bleeding is under control and that sort of thing. I rang them this morning and said we’d have to postpone the biopsy because I’m not going to let my wife stay in the car on her own.” Mr Parrish said.

“They said they’d ring me tomorrow or next week. I’m not sure if that’s to say if I don’t take the next one I’m off the list, or whether they’ll offer me another time.”

Mr Parrish said he and his wife have not received any appropriate rental offers yet, or had any luck on their search.

“We’re old. We just want, with whatever time we have left, to be comfortable in a little two-bedroom unit or something,” he said.

Mr Parrish said since the Covid-19 pandemic the rental market has been the tightest in his three decades living on the Gold Coast.

“We see it (widespread homelessness). It makes us so sad,” he said.

“We saw a young girl pushing a supermarket trolley with all her belongings tied up in it … all alone, probably 18. Just a blank expression on her face.

Ian and Erika Parrish have been living out of their car while they work to lock in accommodation Picture: Glenn Hampson

“Another old lady was sleeping on a bench at a picnic table. No protection from wind, but a few blankets. Just sleeping there all night.”

Mr Parrish heaped praise on a police officer who took the time to check in, register he and his wife as homeless and forwarded their details to relevant charities.

“One night the police pulled up alongside us while we were parked down by the beach at Broadbeach. I thought I’d ask them how safe it was,” he said.

“The senior constable, he looked inside the car, asked if I was sleeping there and said ‘there’s no place safe (to sleep in a vehicle) on the Gold Coast’.

“He said he imagined his parents being in the same position.”

Earlier this month, the Bulletin reported rental vacancy rates were at 0.6 per cent and due to remain at record lows for the foreseeable future.

‘A place to live before we die’: Couple living in car’s desperate plea

September 13: An elderly man is forced to remain homeless on the Gold Coast so he can secure urgent medical treatment.

Despite Ian Parrish being unable to find affordable accommodation within the city, he won’t leave it to find a permanent home because it would see him cut from public health system waiting lists.

The 71-year-old and his wife Erika have been living out of their car for the past five weeks and has a range of serious health issues.

But the city’s expensive property market and lack of social housing means the couple can only find affordable housing outside the city – removing him from the Gold Coast University Hospital waiting lists he has been on for months and cut him off from his GP.

“I’ve had friends who in the past were saying ‘just move, leave town so you can have a roof over your head’ but what people don’t understand is all of the medical stuff we need is here,” he said.

Ian Parrish and his wife Erika Parrish have been homeless and living out of their car for five weeks now. Picture: Glenn Hampson

“After living in the area for 30 years … I’m familiar with the hospital here and the GP I see knows me and my biggest worry is if I left, I wouldn’t get the same immediate attention I’m getting now.

“And now that they’ve found, after I had an MRI, a lesion in the prostate – I can’t just pull up stakes and go somewhere else even if I wanted to.”

A biopsy for early diagnosis within the next four to five weeks is critical, with the Parish family having a history of prostate cancer.

The condition killed Mr Parish’s grandfather.

He also suffers from a range of medical issues, including extremely high blood pressure and arthritis.

With no end in sight to his homelessness, Mr Parrish said the biopsy and any potential cancer treatments would have to be postponed indefinitely.

“It’s difficult to do the preparatory work that’s needed for a biopsy if you haven’t got somewhere you can live and reach a clean toilet immediately, several times during the day as you drink all of the stuff they give you to clean you out,” he said.

The laxatives used to aggressively clear out the bowls for colonoscopies and prostate cancer biopsies means Mr Parrish would need constant access to clean bathroom facilities.

However, most if not all public bathrooms are locked at night, making it impossible to prepare for the biopsy while maintaining his dignity.

And unless Mr Parrish can find a long-term housing solution – any potential treatment for the lesion, of either surgery or weeks of radiation, are completely off the table as well while he is homeless.

Mr Parrish suffers from severe cancer and is struggling to keep on top of his treatment as they also battle homelessness. They are desperate for some help. Picture Glenn Hampson

Despite almost 5000 people waiting on government housing waiting lists, no extra government funding has been allocated to addressing homelessness in the Gold Coast in the 2022-23 state budget.

This comes after a Bulletin investigation revealed at least 1455 extra emergency housing units must be built to tackle a “tsunami” of homelessness in the city.

For the elderly couple, their recent transient living conditions is a symptom of the dark side of the city’s development boom.

“We’ve moved ten times on the Gold Coast in 30 years because they keep selling the places we’ve lived in,” Mr Parrish said.

“So even navigating the rental and private property sector at our age, and being served with notice to leave because the landlord wants to sell the house, it’s like stabbing you in the heart because we just want to settle down.”

Having exhausted all viable government and private housing options, Mr Parrish said the expectation for the homeless to give up their “human dignity” in exchange for a roof was appalling.

“A lot of the places we were shown simply were not fit to live in,” he said.

“A lot of these places are full of people who are drug abusers and are violent. Another place had dead cockroaches, clearly wasn’t cleaned or maintained, and had no blinds so anyone passing by could see straight into the lounge room and bedroom – we just didn’t feel safe.

“What we’re looking for is a place to live until we die. Hopefully that’s not tomorrow.”