A 73-year-old Perth woman survived a catastrophic brain injury which left her in a coma, but when she recovered, her social housing and belongings were gone. Irene Dornan's family were forced to forfeit her home and now she's stuck in a nursing home and back on a state government accommodation wait list.
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00:00Irene Dornan woke up in a nursing home, confused and wondering where she was.
00:07Her home, her car, her dog, all gone.
00:11And I just had people saying to me, this is your new home, no.
00:15And I didn't know what had happened.
00:17Ms Dornan's family was forced to forfeit her social housing and place her in a high care
00:21nursing home after she suffered a brain hemorrhage 18 months ago.
00:26It left her in a coma and doctors said she wouldn't survive.
00:29But miraculously, she's fully recovered and now she wants her home and her independence back.
00:35I just want my own little home, just anything.
00:40My own space.
00:42What I really want is to go back to what I had and I can't.
00:46Ms Dornan has lived in a combination of public and community housing for the past three decades.
00:51She reapplied but was put on a five-year wait list.
00:54Her family appealed to the Department of Communities, managing to secure her a spot on a priority
00:59list but that's still likely to take another two years.
01:03And she's only 73, stuck in a nursing home, unable to afford a private rental.
01:08Not common for anyone to survive an aneurysm.
01:11This stage it's looking like she's going to be stuck where she is for the next two years,
01:16which is impacting her mental health more than anything.
01:18Her son's calling on the government to take a more considered approach to social housing.
01:22She's lost everything through no fault of her own and it seems completely impersonal
01:28the way in which we're having to deal with departments.
01:32In a statement, the Department of Communities says all applicants on the priority waiting
01:37list have demonstrated an urgent need for housing and will be provided with accommodation
01:41when a property becomes available.
01:44For now, it's a waiting game for Mrs Dornan and her family.