Darren*
Darren* presented to the Orange Homelessness and Housing Support Service as he was homeless and staying in Temporary Accommodation through DCJ- Housing. He needed some assistance in finding long term accommodation.
Darren was a 20-year-old who had been couch surfing all over NSW for the previous 12 months. Darren presented as a very shy and reserved young man who had come through the Out Of Care program.
Darren was allocated to a caseworker who completed a risk assessment for Wirree Adult Refuge which is run by the Orange Homelessness and Housing Support service.
A place opened at Wirree and Darren readily accepted the offer of a room.
The accommodation at Wirree is short term emergency accommodation and provided Darren with a safe and stable place to stay while he worked on his goal to obtain long term accommodation.
Thank you to Housing Plus for their magnificent service, after 9 months of being homeless, I was able to get a rental property from them and I am settling into a place I can officially call home.
Support and advocacy was provided by his caseworker.
Darren was assisted to look at and apply for private rentals. He was also assisted to lodge an application for housing assistance.
Darren engaged well during his time at Wirree and gained confidence. He completed the Rent It Keep It program which provides crucial information on how to be successful in a tenancy.
Darren enrolled in a Cert 3 in Aged Care at TAFE.
Darren consented to a referral to the Opportunity Pathways Program at Housing Plus and he regularly met with his coach at Wirree.
Darren’s housing application was assessed as priority following advocacy from his caseworker and Darren was offered a SAHF property which he gladly accepted.
Darren grew in confidence during the time that he was at Wirree, which was wonderful to see. He is now being supported by the sustaining tenancies caseworker to ensure that he has all the tools that are requires to successfully sustain his new tenancy.
*name changed to protect identity