Shenton Park tenant enjoying his unit upgrades

July 20, 2018

The Property Services Team recently completed a Capital Works program that saw 12 properties have aging kitchens and/or bathrooms replaced. This means existing tenants who have lived in the property for many years with good rental histories are now enjoying a better standard of housing.

Sasha is a twenty-two-year-old tenant that has lived in his Shenton Park unit since he was seventeen. After being placed with the support housing group Mosaic, Sasha says he struggled to live with others and was eventually referred to Foundation Housing. “They had support workers in place to take care of me and but they knew independence was preferable for me so basically they fast-tracked me and I’ve been living here for about five years now,” Sasha said.

Under the Capital Works program, Foundation Housing had a new bathroom and kitchen installed, laminate flooring, sliding doors for his bedroom closet as well as a fresh coat of paint on the walls. He says the renovations have made it much easier for him to maintain the property and this helped boost his confidence.

“There were times I was unable to keep it clean and it kind of had a bit of a negative impact on me,” he said.  “After the place was fixed everything actually moved quite forward and I was able to keep things preferably quite neat.”

Capital Works project manager Scott and Sasha’s housing coordinator, Ria, put him up in a hotel while the renovations were taking place over a two-week period. He says he is very happy with how the unit looks now and feels grateful for the opportunity Foundation Housing provided for him to find his independence.

“I want to thank them for their service and the fact that they’ve been very kind to me,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m giving them respect and they’re giving me respect which is something that’s got to be earned. I think that if you keep your place clean you’re not going to have really any problems so you’ve just got to take care of the place and they’ll take care of you.”