Prioritising her children’s safety above all else, Jodie found temporary homes for them with friends and family. After struggling to find a home themselves, Matt and Jodie resigned themselves to living in their car. What was meant to be a brief situation turned into six years sleeping rough, separated from their children.

“Not every homeless person is on the streets because they want to be.
But a lot of them are there for circumstance. For example, ours, home invasion. We had a family. We were working. We had a house. And we lost it all. And we couldn’t fight for it because we lost our feet.” – Jodie

During this time, Tranby played a big role in keeping them connected to their children. They would visit daily to charge their phones, eat, shower and then, religiously, call their children.

Over the next six years, Jodie and Matt received offers of housing, but Jodie was hesitant to accept when others seemed ‘worse-off’. Finally, Matt reassured her that they deserve a home as much as anyone, which led to them to the home they are in today.

Eight months into their new home, it’s not all sunshine and roses. There are old habits of sleeping rough that make being indoors difficult. And they do sometimes miss how productive they were when they were homeless. Collecting Containers for Change at night, attending appointments and ensuring they arrived in time for a feed at Tranby kept them busy.

These days, Jodie and Matt spend much of their time helping others. They share their experience with corporate audiences at Uniting’s Recipe for Change team building workshops. And they visit Tranby weekly to check in on people, listen to their stories and let people know that “someone gives a shit”. When it feels right, they share how their life is going in their home. What’s great, what’s difficult, what’s unexpected.

It’s been a long road to get to where they are, but you’ll still find Jodie and Matt laughing together and helping each other with whatever comes next.