Noella

‘I've seen things that I can't un-see … I'm like one of the most relatively normal people you'll find in public housing, [but] it broke me and I've never been the same since.’

Noella is in her 30s and lives with borderline personality disorder and complex trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

‘I felt a very urgent need a few years ago to tell my story because I didn't feel like anybody was listening,’ Noella told the Royal Commission.

Noella struggles with depression and anxiety.

‘It affected me a lot in school, and it affected my attempts to go to university … I think I've attempted to get every single form of help available that there is. Sorry, I get a bit emotional.’

Noella is now supported by the NDIS, but lives in public housing.

‘I feel like there's a great divide between the system and people, and it's weird because it's meant to be a social services system but it's completely devoid of humanity.’

When she first moved into public housing, many of the residents in her apartment block were elderly or had disability. As those residents moved out, the block became more dangerous.

Noella told the Royal Commission she was sexually assaulted. A police community liaison officer advised her not to report the assault.

‘[The liaison officer] basically said to me, "If you report this, we'll have to investigate and then they'll know that you've reported it, and we can't be there 24/7 to protect you." And that's the sad truth of this situation.’

When a woman moved into the apartment above and filled it with rubbish that attracted rats, Noella said the housing department ‘did nothing’.

‘I have emails from them saying, "We suggest you contact your local MP.”’

One night, the apartment upstairs caught fire.

‘Obviously they had to put the fire out, so my apartment's flooded and, you know. After that they moved in a guy who was a drug dealer and he brought in about five people off the street with him.’

Noella tried to move.

‘Then the situation really escalated … I was trying to get out which meant that I had to report incidents. But in order to do that I had to, like, report on people in the building and they all knew it was me. So I became a target after that.’

She was stalked and threatened. One morning, Noella heard someone drilling into the lock on her front door.

‘I looked through the peephole … and I yelled through the door and said, "What's happening?" And then I realised that one of the guys was wearing a housing [department] name tag, and they were all yelling at me for some reason … "We've got to come in. We've got to check the smoke alarm.”’

Noella told them to wait until she got dressed.

‘They didn't wait. They broke it, and they came in … just to check the smoke alarm.’

Noella said the men claimed to have mailed her a notice that they were coming.

‘I said, "Do you understand? People leave needles in my mailbox all the time. This is a very unsafe building. You can visually see for yourself that the mailbox is broken open.” … It was insane. It took me a long time to get over that.’

Noella attempted suicide. After she was released from hospital, she eventually found a senior manager in the department ‘who behaved like a human being’.

‘He got me out and if it hadn't been for him, I'm not sure I'd be sitting here today,’ Noella told the Royal Commission. ‘I guess he kind of stepped outside a bit of the bureaucratic lines to try and get me out … I don't know why there aren't more like him.’

Noella said the housing department was aware of her disability. She was a good tenant and paid her rent on time.

‘But it was like, why bother doing the right thing when I didn't get treated the right way in return, you know? Why bother?’