‘’No compassion or humanity’: resident with nowhere to go

Residents faced with eviction orders from council-owned land say they have nowhere to go and the council won’t respond to their pleas.

PERMANENT residents facing eviction at Lakeside Motor Inn and Caravan Park at Yungaburra say they have nowhere to go and have hit a bureaucratic wall of silence at Tablelands Regional Council (TRC).

Council decided late last year to lease out the caravan park at Lake Tinaroo to commercial operators but lack of interest meant they recently installed Caretakers Australia – at $660 per day or $19,800 per month.

Jenny Sader has lived in a neat permanent dwelling she owns on site for 11 years and says she’s willing to pay more rent than the current $97.70 per week until she can find alternative accommodation – but she says council has turned its back on her and letters receive no response.

TRC chief executive Gary Rinehart said in July – following a delegation to council by Ms Sader and other residents - council granted extensions of time to leave for up to 12 months “on a case-by-case” basis and “we considered it reasonable to grant a longer extension to tenants who need to find alternative accommodation”.

But Ms Sader disputed that, saying a month later, council backflipped and she was given until the end of November to go.

“The situation is dire, I have to be out of here by the end of the month, and I have a 20-year-old cat, Button, that I am not about to give up,” Ms Sader said.

Mr Rinehart said on Monday council would “continue to work with the residents and holiday-makers on their transition from the park” but Ms Sader said no-one from council has visited the park and her letters have received no response.

“I don’t have anywhere to go,” Ms Sader said.

“We all breathed a sigh of relief when they gave us 12 months, but they went back on their word without any consultation. I got a letter asking me to prove there was no housing and that I would face hardship, and I wrote back but did not receive a response.

“Council knows there is nowhere for us to go, they are not silly, the housing department is right next to them,” she said.

“This is home – why not just let us stay.”

The dwelling of Jenny Sader, who has lived at Lakeside Motor Inn and Caravan Park at Yungaburra for more than a decade, but has been given her marching orders by Tablelands Regional Council after it put caretakers in to manage the park. Picture: Bronwyn Farr.

While Ms Sader can afford an increase, she can’t afford more than $220 per week and the sprinkling of local rentals she’s looked at range from $500 to $375 per week.

“I just can’t see the sense in this - council are responsible for a lot of bad decisions,” she said.

“When your local representatives don’t give a shit about you, and really don’t care, it is really heart-wrenching, it upsets me,” Ms Sader said.

“There is no care for fellow humans, there’s no compassion or humanity in this, it is just ridiculous.”

Council decided late last year to seek commercial operators for Lakeside and Malanda Falls caravan parks, with the popular managers at the latter taking over the lease.

Council said Lakeside was running at an operating loss of more than $30,000 annually.

Originally published as ‘’No compassion or humanity’: resident with nowhere to go