This page has already been transcribed. You can find new pages to transcribe here.

Transcription

rent could survive in reasonable comfort if they watched the cents, and took advantage of the various concessions which were available to them. They were relatively easy for us to help--we just had to make sure that they got what they were entitled to. But it was a different story if they had to pay rent.  

With Manly's high real estate values, rents were well abover average, and the rental stock was diminishing. Yet some forty percent of the population were tenants, many of whom were in danger of becoming outcasts in their own community. Manly Council saw its role as serving ratepayers, by which they meant propery owners. Tenants were regarded as second class citizens, even if they were long-term residents.    

A grey haired lady came into my office, apologizing for taking up my valuable time. She was sick and frightened. At seventy nine years of age, after forty years in Manly, she had received an eviction notice.  

She had lived alone in a small flat. The rent had gradually inceased, in line with the market trend, until it now almost equalled her total pension. To buy food, she had fallen into arrears. How was she to survive?

I assured her that she would not be just thrown out into the street. The landlord would have to first get a court order, and this would not be granted unless

Current Status: 
Completed