Homeless brothers Jade and Brad Devine living out of a car, on public housing waiting list for two years

Father of three Jade Devine is a full time carer for his brother, and the pair have been on the public housing waiting list for more than two years. They have lived out of their Holden Barina for the past three months.

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FATHER of three Jade Devine is a full-time carer for his brother Brad, and the pair have been on the public housing waiting list for more than two years.

Jade became homeless after separating from his ex-partner, while a fallout between his brother Brad and their father led to both brothers being out on their own. “I took him under my wing — we’re sticking together,” Jade said.

Couch surfing was their short-term solution, but the brothers have lived out of their Holden Barina for the past three months.

“We have to buy food every day. Brad’s unable to have some of his thyroid medication as well because we don’t have a fridge.”

Brothers Jade and Brad Devine have been living in their car. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Jade said the car at least allowed him to visit and transport his three children aged six, four and two.

“I can access the Safe Spaces [shelter and program] because I was referred by my Salvos worker, but I wouldn’t get a good night’s sleep worrying about leaving the car with all our valuables unattended.”

Jade hoped he would have had a house by now, but months have now passed.

“It just makes you feel like you want to give up at the end of the day … it’s a constant battle you’re losing all the time,” he said.

“I want to be able to have my children stay with me again, but I’m unable to do that now. It’s really upsetting, it’s quite devastating.”

He hoped more affordable houses would be built, with private rentals increasingly expensive and hard to find.

“I definitely want to be housed so I can have my children. Then I want to look at getting back into TAFE to study as well as looking after Brad. Until I’m housed, I can’t really look at those sort of things.”

In September 2020, 3594 housing applications remained open on the register. The average waiting time for priority applicants to be housed was 63.7 weeks.