Help Andeli Get Safe Housing & Recover

**UPDATE!**

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far for your incredible generosity and prompt response! We never predicted just how quickly everyone would jump on board to get Andeli the help they need to access safe housing. This has meant that we have already hit our original goal only 24 hours after posting of $1000! The impact of this is incredible addressing a large chunk of the upfront moving costs and reducing Andeli's stress and barriers to safely moving significantly.

Unfortunately, whilst Andeli thought they could cover the remaining $2000 of their $3000 moving bill with grants, it turns out this is not the case. As a result, they are still $2000 short of being able to pay their moving bill. So, with this in mind and witnessing the incredible feats this community is capable of already, we are raising the goal to try and cover the full $3000! The impact this will have on Andeli and their housemates' ability to move and focus on the hard task of recovering and fighting for compensation and legislative change is massive. So please, continue to share this around in your communities with those who can donate, because everyone deserves safe housing with safe water and the sooner Andeli and their housemates are out of their current unsafe housing, the sooner Andeli can get back to what they love doing and advocate for our broader community. xx - with so much gratitude, Kaity on behalf of Andeli

**The story**

Hi, my name is Kaity and I'm fundraising for my incredibly resilient, community-dedicated, and compassionate friend Andeli.

Andeli is currently in a housing situation without safe plumbing or water, having to live off of bottled water, shower at other people's houses and in public bathrooms, and front extensive moving costs again all while managing the huge impact on their health and fighting for adequate compensation from the landlords and for legislative reform to ensure safe water for all renters. They need our help.

Andeli grew up in poverty. They’ve been fighting to have their own basic needs met their entire life, have experienced more adversity and abusive circumstances than any person should ever have to deal with, and faced constant health issues/hospital admissions/inaccessibility barriers. And yet, with this incredible compassion, resilience, and generosity my friend has, Andeli has always, always still helped the community around them.

Anyone that knows Andeli knows they would do anything to help support and protect the community. Be that through their advocacy in various advisory councils advocating for the rights and safety of young people, their work in disability justice educating and transforming accessibility procedures in entire organizations, volunteering for climate justice, or simply taking the time to make sure anyone they talk to has access to the resources they need for things to improve and knows they have someone to talk to.

Andeli has complex interconnected health issues including hEDS, POTs/OI, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, OCD, C-PTSD, ADHD, and is Autistic, and also has a range of other conditions still being investigated. Existing even at the best of times is a challenge that costs Andeli hundreds each week in medication, medical bills, and baseline accommodations that help them live their day-to-day life.

This year, however, has been particularly challenging.

With the expiration of their last lease, Andeli had to move out of their previous housing. Despite searching for months and applying for urgent social housing, they couldn’t find a single place that was within their small Disability Support Pension budget, let alone a place that fit their accessibility needs.

Andeli was homeless for a month and a half, following having recently covered from COVID-19 which despite extensive medical assistance and vaccination still led to hospitalisation with their conditions. Despite this, in that time Andeli continued their advocacy in the space of climate justice and continued to support their community.

Eventually, they found housing with two other disabled housemates in mid-April. Whilst at first it seemed they could finally rest, instead the house immediately had severe problems with the plumbing as well as a gas leak for the first week, the dishwasher not working and smoking on first use, faulty wiring, black mold, and many other minor issues with little response or action taken once reported to the real estate agents.

After weeks of self-advocacy they finally got the agent to send a plumber, and upon inspection of the pipes it turned out the issues were much worse than inspected. The plumbing was installed improperly so that sewage was running in the wrong direction and the sanitary conditions were appalling. Andeli and their housemates only found out that the plumber had determined the sanitation conditions were unsafe for human habitation 3 weeks later after having made submissions to VCAT and receiving the plumbing receipt alongside an eviction notice the next day.

This has all been an extremely upsetting and difficult process, however, at this stage it has been determined that whilst the property is unlivable due to the plumbing and they need to move as soon as possible, they will not be evicted and the owner will owe them compensation for the large amount of damage done, however accessing this compensation could take months or even years going through the legal processes. In the meantime, Andeli and their housemates have been living off of bottled water, showering intermittently at the houses of friends and family, living off take-away food (as cooking and doing dishes without running clean water is a significant challenge), and spending up to $50 every time they need to wash their clothes at the local laundromat.

They should be able to move soon, however, they are still having to face the upfront costs of moving after spending so much money on just having access to the basics for survival. The moving van itself will cost approximately $3000 upfront (the landlords chose the moving company since they will be the ones reimbursing Andeli and their housemates for the bill eventually) and the physical strain of moving is likely to set Andeli’s health even further meaning they will need to rely on ready-made meals and a large number of medical bills for a long while to come.

The medical impact is so severe that they are having to check in with a doctor every week, the household got worms from the contaminated water, Andeli’s skin conditions flared causing blistering and an OCD flare dealing with the contamination causing extensive picking and stress-induced behaviors that left their body even more prone to infection.

The strain of being unable to cook both due to energy levels which have tanked as a result of these circumstances and due to the lack of access to clean water, combined with living below the poverty line has meant Andeli has lost over 10kgs and 10% of their body weight over this period and seen a setback in their health so severe it might take well over a year to get back to the capacity level they had reached before this happened, even if nothing else stressful happens. They have had an increased number of hospitalizations and been prescribed new medications only adding to the already excessively high cost of living they deal with as a disabled person.

This level of distress and the fatigue caused by living in these conditions all while preparing for the necessary legal actions have meant Andeli has had to step back from their advocacy work in the climate justice and disability justice spaces which has not only been heartbreaking to Andeli who pours so much of their time into these causes but has had an extensive impact on the broader community who already were strained and in need of support due to current economic conditions.

Andeli wants to do what they can to make sure not only that they and their housemates get justice following the impacts of their landlord and real estate agent's negligence, but also to ensure that this type of situation doesn’t happen again. They fully intend to take their case to parliament and advocate that as well as compulsory gas and electricity safety checks, any property going onto the market must have documentation proving that the plumbing and water sanitation is up to industry standards.

So many of us take it for granted that our water is safe to drink, but without any safeguards in place to ensure rentals actually do have properly installed plumbing, there may be thousands of other Victorians being exposed to similar water conditions as Andeli and their housemates right now without even knowing it.

Andeli has the experience and determination to make this happen, but without having stable housing or access to life’s basic necessities they do not have the capacity to step up and start on this work. The sooner we can help Andeli get back on their feet, the sooner they will be able to resume the essential advocacy work they do for our community and do so sustainably.

Andeli has managed to scrape and search for community programs that should cover the bond and some of the initial moving costs, but there is still over $3000 of upfront moving costs they can’t account for, and the issue of needing to continuously buy bottled water and pre-made microwave meals/take out. Funds raised from this will all go towards assisting with moving costs to get them out of these dangerous living conditions and supporting them to access the medical support and food they need in the interim to keep going.

Andeli has spent their life, giving to others through their work in disability justice advocacy, advocating for the rights of young people, fighting for climate justice, and always setting aside time to support, educate, and reach out to others; and now they need our help.

Any donation, of even $10 or below, is greatly appreciated and will help Andeli reach enough stability to recover and continue their work, fighting for the safety of all renters in Victoria.

If you aren’t able to donate, share Andeli’s gofundme with 5 of your friends, it honestly makes a huge difference. Thank you for supporting our wonderful Andeli in this tough and challenging time. It means the world to us.