Anne sits amid her possessions, crammed into the small lounge room of her social housing home in Coffs Harbour.
Anne, who did not want to use her real name, said she was embarrassed by her living conditions but felt she had no choice.
She said she is crammed everything into that room because the walls in the rest of the house became wet every time it rained, which lately had been a lot.
"Of course, it's embarrassing [having] anyone coming in here," Anne said.
"Because the lounge room and the dining room has got all my clothes and linen out of the linen cupboard."
Anne's house first leaked when torrential rain hit northern New South Wales in January 2022.
Mission Australia, Anne's housing provider, has made a number of repairs.
But she said the walls remained damp.
Anne said she moved all her belongings into the only room unaffected by the damp in March.
Coffs Harbour received 730 millimetres of rain that month alone.
"I had to get rid of furniture," she said.
"I had to move it all by myself."
A week later, repairs were made by a plumber contracted by Mission Australia.
Anne said the plumber identified cracked tiles, a rusted roof valley and a leaking roof ventilator.
More rain fell three days after they were repaired and the walls were wet again.
Anne provided emails and letters to the ABC, which show several more sets of repairs carried out by Mission Australia, including roof repairs in the months since.
Due for redevelopment
Anne's home is within a proposed redevelopment for a mixed-density public and private housing project, which will add close to 500 new homes to the Argyll Street estate.
She feared her requests may have been given less priority because her home may be demolished.
A Mission Australia spokesperson said it rejected the notion of any link between the redevelopment proposal and managing repair works.
"Our response to work orders relating to the social homes we manage in Argyll Estate are in no way impacted by the estate's redevelopment proposal," the spokesperson said.
Major impact of government direction
Tenants Union of NSW chief executive Leo Patterson Ross said repairs were one of the most common reasons people called for advice.
"In social housing, people often feel like they're being left behind by the lack of resources in the system," he said.
Mr Patterson Ross said an increasing transfer of management from public to private had shifted the landscape in recent years.
He said while that initially represented an increase in funds, it also required the private organisations to provide additional services not related to their portfolios.
"They're also having to supply assessment and housing assistance products, homelessness support, all really being run off a very limited pool of income that's been collected by tenants," Mr Patterson Ross said.
Physical and mental toll
Anne said she spent the winter battling a serious chest infection, which she suspected was worsened by the air she was breathing.
"Only when I left this house, I went down to Port Macquarie to see somebody, did the symptoms go," she said.
"Later on, I read that [my symptoms] can be a sign of mould spores."
A Mission Australia spokesperson said Anne's concerns had been heard in a timely manner.
"Since then, we have been in regular contact with the tenant and consistently attempted to access or have successfully accessed the property with professional contractors and tradespeople to investigate and manage the issue," the spokesperson said.
Mission Australia said it was unable to access the property on several occasions when inspections or works were scheduled.
"On one occasion, the tenant advised they would not grant access to the property, so scheduled work was cancelled," the spokesperson said.
"Various qualified tradespeople and contractors have promptly attended the property and completed minor maintenance work over the past few months.
"No evidence of major water damage has been discovered."
For now, Anne remains living in her lounge room.
