Terminally ill grandmother to lose home after auctions as housing group fails
Administrators are appointed to a failed Indigenous housing group and the regular starts an investigation, but for one terminally ill grandmother about to lose her home, the action comes "too late".
A terminally ill grandmother in Mount Isa is among 50 residents impacted by the collapse of an Indigenous housing corporation, leading to the loss of her home. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Welfare Services (ATSICfWS) auctioned 25 properties in September after owing over $1 million in council rates. Despite receiving the reserve price for all properties, the organization will be dismantled due to members and directors abandoning their responsibilities.
The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations has taken extraordinary measures, including appointing special administrators and filing a Federal Court application to prevent the corporation from benefiting from any remaining assets. Leonie Reading, the terminally ill grandmother, has been housebound for 11 years and is now faced with the daunting task of finding a new place to live.
She described the situation as a "nightmare" and expressed hope that it would not happen again, calling for more accountability and honesty in the future.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
