Cheryl Hawkett applied to access public housing in 2015. She was living in the rural Victorian town of Moe, in a bedsit so small and cramped “you couldn’t really swing a cat in it”.
Her doctor wrote a letter to accompany the application, arguing that her housing situation was detrimental to her health. She was grappling with serious anxiety and depression at the time, which culminated in a hospital stay under the care of a psychiatrist.
