WALTER (name changed for privacy reasons) has been renting a home on the Tomaree Peninsula for seven years.

He is a quiet man, one who has kept to himself.

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He always paid his rent on time and had thought that he had found his ‘forever home’.

Walter is now 81 years old and facing homelessness.

This is through no fault of his own and at his age losing his home is daunting.

Walter is just one of the many people displaced from a long-term rental because of the sale of the property.

Walter doesn’t have a lot of possessions, he is living week-to-week on the pension.

But where will Walter go?

Tracy Blosdale of First National Real Estate said while she sold the property, she felt compelled to help Walter.

The decision to assist Walter has brought to light the very difficult nature of finding a new home.

After all, if a real estate agent can’t find somewhere for someone to live, who can?

However with the impending settlement date looming, Walter still has nowhere to go.

Unable to find a rental property for Walter before the property’s settlement date, Tracy has been working with My Aged Care as a last resort to find somewhere safe for this Walter to live.

Tracy Blosdale told News Of The Area, “Through no fault of his own Walter is now in need of respite within the aged-care system.

“For someone who has been living independently this move is crushing,” she said.

“Walter has an old car that needs scrapping and a home that needs to be packed up.”

Tracy fears for Walter’s future.

She has been assisting him with Centrelink and in finding respite.

“Where will he go? He has no family, friends or support and is on the pension,” she said.

Inadvertently Tracy has become his advocate during this difficult situation.

“I felt compelled to help him find a safe space to live,” she said.

“There are very few rentals that have rent lower than $300 a week in the Bay and it became apparent that Walter needed more care and could not look after himself anymore.

“I would not allow him to be homeless so I started looking into aged-care services.

“He needed an ACAT assessment, but this can take a staggering ten weeks and Walter simply didn’t have that much time.

“The unit is settling in mid August and he needs urgent care,” she said.

“I spoke to some wonderful community members that could guide me and they spoke to ACAT and an emergency assessment was granted and this expedited the process.”

For both Walter and Tracy it hasn’t been easy and Walter’s story is far from over.

The team at the NOTA will follow Walter’s progress.

By Marian SAMPSON