Help Shannon and her girls from becoming homeless

Hi, our names are Nicole & Matt, we are neighbours to Shannon and her two beautiful girls.

Shannon is a Brisbane single mother and carer to her two young girls aged 8 & 9. When Shannon’s eldest daughter was diagnosed with Autism at 2 years old she discovered she wasn’t eligible for NDIS due to a technicality. To finance the extremely expensive therapy needed for Autism, Shannon sold her home. A year later Shannon’s second daughter was diagnosed with Autism.

In 2018, the family moved just down the road to a NRAS subsidised home in Wynnum and over that time have paid 20% subsidised rent for the last 5 years. Last week Shannon was advised that due to the NRAS program being wound up, her rent would be increasing by around $350 per week. To approximately $750 per week. Shannon survives on a Carers Payment only funding for one child with disabilities.

Shannon also struggles with her health and In 2019 an unknown tumour burst in her heart. Recently she has also be found to have a rare brain disorder of which much is unknown at this time.

Shannon is a caring and giving member of the Wynnum community and has volunteered for years. Children mean everything to Shannon and so she fostered another local young girl who was taken into the state system and spent the next few years providing care, support and therapy to all the children.

Now Shannon finds herself unable to afford the additional rent increase with no family members in Australia to lean on, unable to find any affordable accommodation for herself and her children (including caravan parks) and unsure what the future holds. She has used all she had from the sale of her home to fund her daughter’s therapy.

With the landlord informing her the increase will take place beginning of December only giving her a few weeks to pay up or move out! Thankfully extending it to January for such short notice.

She has been offered some land to place a caravan on 3 hours inland although without water or power. It is within driving distance to a country school however. Shannon needs to find enough money to purchase a simple safe and roadworthy caravan for her and her children to live in that can function off grid with solar power.

If you can help in any way, no matter how big or small, your contribution would mean the world to Shannon and would help this small family find somewhere safe to live again.

Many thanks to you all!