Meet Wendy, one of 13,000 homeless Territorians on housing waitlists

Once an accomplished psychotherapist, Wendy is now one of 13,000 homeless Territorians who face a potentially decade-long wait for a public house.

A tea made with hot water from McDonalds, a shower at the public pool and hours upon hours of “ruminating” over what will come next.

This is how Wendy Sutton, 69, spends every day as she waits for a place to call home.

The Darwin pensioner has been living in her van for the past 18 months, with her support dog Max.

Prior to this life, she was an accomplished psychotherapist who worked across New York City and Australia.

Ms Sutton is also a “Forgotten Australian” – one of 500,000 children to grow up in an orphanage in the past century.

Darwin pensioner Wendy Sutton has been living in her van for 18 months, as she sits on years-long waitlists for social housing. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Ms Sutton said that environment, which she was in and out of from the age of just two, fostered a sense of instability that has never left her.

“It’s all part of who I am and the way I was raised, or dragged up really,” she said.

“The impact is, I can’t be around happy families – I’m very uncomfortable with that.

“I’ve got friends here and they’re always saying ‘come over, come over’ … but I just don’t want to impose on people.

“That’s actually how I feel with housing, that I’m imposing on them. It’s a horrible feeling, like I’ve done something wrong.”

Wendy usually parks up along the Nightcliff Foreshore each night to sleep. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Failed marriages intermittently forced Ms Sutton and her children into public housing over the past five decades, and her accommodation for the most part had “always been good”.

But when she became homeless early last year, after giving up a Darwin unit due to domestic violence, Ms Sutton said her life had been a “nightmare”.

In the eighteen long months since, Ms Sutton has had her hopes raised and dashed too many times – including when Territory Families offered her a one-bed unit last month.

“It was a coffin and I would have died if I was in there,” she said.

“Just a square, no fencing around it, a clothesline I would have shared with the neighbours.”

The one-bedroom unit in Larrakeyah, Darwin, offered to homeless senior Wendy Sutton. Picture: Supplied

The one-bedroom unit in Larrakeyah, Darwin, offered to homeless senior Wendy Sutton. Picture: Supplied

Not only did the unit feel like a “box”, she had requested a two-bedroom place so her grandchildren could stay after their mother, Ms Sutton’s daughter, died earlier this year.

“Part of me thinks maybe I should have taken that, I shouldn’t be fussy … but there was no security.

“I went there during the day and then I went there at night, doing my due diligence, and when I saw what was going on … I just went, ‘I can’t do that’.

“I honestly felt safer in my van.”

With a set of wheels and some money in her super – which she had been going through like “rainwater” – Ms Sutton knew she was in a fortunate position to turn the offer down.

Wendy says her support dog Max “keeps me going”, but having him – along with limited income – has meant she’s not been able to secure a private rental. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The NT is the country’s homelessness capital with 12 times the national average of people on the streets.

About one in every 20 Territorians are homeless – many of which are Aboriginal people and elderly women.

Social housing waitlists in the Darwin region, which stretch up to 10 years, are also longer than those in the Territory’s regional and remote centres.

Housing Minister Selena Uibo was contacted however a Territory Families, Housing and Communities spokesman responded to this publication’s questions.

Housing Minister Selena Uibo committed almost $31m in grant funding to 19 non-government providers for the delivery of 57 Specialist Homelessness Services programs in urban and regional centres across the Territory, in the 2023-24 budget. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

“Our dedicated housing officers work hard to ensure people in need have a home that meets their requirements as soon as possible,” he said.

“We continue to do everything we can to support senior Territorians into suitable public housing including prioritising them for social housing at the new John Stokes Square precinct in Nightcliff.”

Ms Sutton has a meeting planned with Territory Families this week, an opportunity in which she hopes to be heard.

“You tend to be a number as opposed to a human being,” she said.