Lisa’s struggle to make ends meet

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
18 April 2004

Pope still favourite of young Catholics

Church groups unite in call for poverty inquiry

Lisa’s struggle to make ends meet

Sydney education office helps Solomons rebuild

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PM’s award to Fr Chris Riley

Cardinal Pell keynote speaker

Editorial: Duty to the poor

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Sybil pushes the boundaries

Peace, love inspire student art

Christians, Muslims, Jews gather in prayer for peace

Jesus is the meaning of life, bishop tells Vietnamese

Salesians fight poverty, hunger in East Timor

Joey’s just pipped

Lisa’s struggle to make ends meet

Faced with an eviction notice from her one-bedroom flat in the northern beaches, and struggling to pay for food and transport let alone the costs of paying a furniture removalist or a new rental bond, Lisa’s already grim world is splitting at the seams.

“I’ve started sleep-walking at night,” says Lisa (not her real name), a part-time shop assistant in her mid-40s. “My GP says it’s because I’m under so much stress.”

Lisa, who lives on a gross income of $400 a week, is among the one million working Australians classed as poor, according to the Senate inquiry into poverty.

Like others in her area, she is caught between a poorly paid casual job and the rising costs of food, transport and a bullish rental market (she pays $150 rent each week). Her modest income is just enough to disqualify her from receiving bond assistance from the Department of Housing but not enough to apply for a credit card.

Now, Lisa is turning to a St Vincent de Paul Society budget counsellor. “I’m in a desperate situation,” she says. “I can’t see my way out.”

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