By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A SINGLE mother of four who is living with her children at their grandparents’ three bedroom home has been waiting for a public housing property for more than 15 years.
According to a Department of Human Services (DHS) spokesperson, Sharon Erdeljan applied for public housing in 1998 and currently remains on the general public housing waitlist.
Ms Erdeljan, whose children attend school in Endeavour Hills, shares a bedroom with her two youngest children, Natasha, 9, and Milan, 6, at her mother’s house in Keysborough.
She said her two oldest children, Ben, 20, and Taleisha, 17, previously had to share the dining room as their bedroom before Ben recently moved out.
“It’s hard because the kids can’t have friends over, they’re always fighting,” Ms Erdeljan said.
“I haven’t got any friends or acquaintances that I see.
“It would be different if I had my own place because I could invite them over for coffee.
“I get so angry that I cry because it’s ridiculous, it just makes me so mad.”
The DHS spokesperson said Ms Erdeljan was approved for the general public housing waiting list in 1998 and approved for early housing – the priority waiting list – in 2006 but rejected the dwelling.
“In 2006 the tenant was offered a three-bedroom property but declined the property,” the spokesperson said.
“In accordance with department policy, she was then removed from the early housing list but remains on the general list.”
Applications for public housing are segmented into two categories – ‘early housing’ and ‘wait turn’.
Early housing caters for people who are homeless and receiving support, people with a disability who have significant support needs and people with special housing needs.
Wait turn is for all eligible people on low incomes.
Earlier this month the News reported that another single mother, Catherine from Endeavour Hills, claimed she had been told by an employee from the Dandenong public housing office not to bother applying for a dwelling because there was a 16-year-indefinite wait.
