Coming to Sydney to transition. Not sure how I'm going to manage it.

[Colonel_Panic]

Hi guys,

As the subject says. I'm a welfare recipient in North Queensland. I tried to get my name on the Sydney public housing list but, despite being born and having lived in Sydney for like 25 years of my life and only having left in 2012, I need a NSW address to access NSW public housing.

I'm kind of lost. The only reason I live in Mackay is because of my parents, and I need to get away from them and this town in order to do this. My second thought was that I could rock up into town and get some emergency accommodation because at least that way I could tell public housing I'm in temporary accommodation. The Gender Centre said they can't guarantee me a place in their crisis housing until I get down, though, and I'd rather stay out of the men's homeless shelters (particularly the religious ones). Even with those, I can't guarantee I'll have a place to stay. I have family down there but they're all uber-Catholic and I'm going to be starting HRT in December if I have my way.

Any ideas on how to do this? Are there cheap places I could stay until I could get some crisis housing? I feel like a dead>-bleeped-< for not being able to support myself but I really just want to come home.

[Michelle_P]

Hi, Colonel_Panic!

I believe I've met with your namesake a few times, mostly while working with the motor pool, with the... ahem... drivers.   (Caution: Nerd humor.  See, in the UNIX operating... never mind.)

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[Raell]

When I was in Sydney in 2005 we stayed at a hostel near the train station. There are many online links to hostels, which cost about $13 a night and you clean up after yourself.

You can also check Craigslist, do google searches, etc., for people looking for flatmates.

[Colonel_Panic]

Hi guys, thanks for the replies!

Raell, that's not a bad idea actually. It wouldn't cost me too much more than my current rent anyway.

[bubbles21]

Hey,

Normally the GC won't confirm a place until they interview you, however, the interviews are nothing too serious. IMHO i would go with the gender centre, all you would have to do is stay in a cheap place for a couple of nights for everything to be organized. I have also heard of Twenty10 i think they are called who might also be able to help. Other than that im not sure what places will help. I know what the GC said but if you can find a way to get into there it will pretty much fast track an application to gaining public housing. The only other option i can think of is as mentioned above, hostels.

kind regards,

B

[Colonel_Panic]

Hey,

Normally the GC won't confirm a place until they interview you, however, the interviews are nothing too serious. IMHO i would go with the gender centre, all you would have to do is stay in a cheap place for a couple of nights for everything to be organized. I have also heard of Twenty10 i think they are called who might also be able to help. Other than that im not sure what places will help. I know what the GC said but if you can find a way to get into there it will pretty much fast track an application to gaining public housing. The only other option i can think of is as mentioned above, hostels.

kind regards,

B

Really? Oh, thank gods! I feel much better now. Thank you!

[Cindy]

Hi Hon and welcome,

I'm in Adelaide so I cannot speak with authority about Sydney except for the times I pass through.
Homelessness in Sydney is very bad and I think far worse than you may experience in MacKay. In fact homelessness in all the major cities is bad.

Do not expect any help. It is very limited. If you expect to live on the street try and bring a swag at least. Ye sounds funny but may save your life.

If you are single, 'male', fit and transient you are not high on the list for help.

Decide what you are looking for in Sydney so we can try to help you, just coming here and expecting something maybe a waste of time.

[Mangothedog]

all I can say, is once you're in sydney (or melbourne for that matter) your life is going to be 10x easier when it comes to your identity...beats Brisbane thats for sure...

[Colonel_Panic]

all I can say, is once you're in sydney (or melbourne for that matter) your life is going to be 10x easier when it comes to your identity...beats Brisbane thats for sure...

Yeah, I really have to do this, and I think it's worth risking everything to do. Transitioning in front of my family would be agonising.

That being said, I have a really top cousin who is also gay and sort of understands. He's been putting me in touch with Mission Australia, who are going to help me out. From what he said, there might be a chance that I could access women's shelters if I identify as female. I'm (hopefully) starting HRT next week, so maybe by May 2018, I'll be a bit more confident identifying as female.

[Tammy Jade]

I'm from adelaide so Sydney prices may be different, but I would look into student housing. In my area we have a lot of private houses renting out rooms.

Most are around 100-120 a week depending on the size and location including utilities, if the landlord will sign off on the paperwork you can get rent support and the bond from Centrelink (unlike for a hotel room)

Not all will sign off on the Centrelink paperwork because that means they have to declare it at tax time. But a lot will.

My brother in law is in this sort of arrangement he is on a single doll and with the rent support makes ends meet.


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