Two days ago Tamia Hood was homeless.
Now she and her four-year-old son Grayson have somewhere to call home — a two-bedroom unit in Bairnsdale.
The 22-year-old had been waiting patiently for two years on the Victorian Housing Register for social housing to become available.
During that time, Ms Hood and Grayson had been sleeping in a caravan on the banks of Bung Yarnda, the lake which surrounds Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust.
They had been moved a few times by department workers and service providers to crisis accommodation when it became available.
But it wasn't until the ABC contacted the state minister for housing, and Ms Hood's story was told, that she was offered the Bairnsdale unit.
Ms Hood said she packed her bags as soon as she received the phone call and moved in.
Her grandmothers and aunties rallied around her with furniture so she could begin to make her first house a home.
"I feel heaps better now that we don't have to keep moving around from house to house," Ms Hood said.
"It's better than what I imagined ... we have a proper shower, and proper stove to cook on."
She said she called a kindergarten and enrolled Grayson as soon as she heard she would be moving to Bairnsdale.
A brighter future, helping others
Ms Hood is now looking to the future and hopes to resume her studies in community welfare so she can become a support worker and help other Indigenous people.
"I'm hoping to do my studies and be able to find a job as well," she said.
"I've already spoken to a few people who can help me do a resume and help me hopefully to get a job.
"I got a few job offers while I was studying, so that's what the plan was and then obviously, the homeless bit started and that kind of pushed everything back.
"Now I have to start from scratch, which I don't mind though, because I'll be in a new house.
"It's like a whole new fresh start for me, so I'm feeling pretty good."
Ms Hood said she hoped her cultural awareness and lived experience would help other Indigenous people to find their way into housing and career paths.
"There's a lot of non-Indigenous workers who don't really understand," Ms Hood said.
"I think … I'd be able to understand and talk to them in a way that non-Indigenous workers can't.
"I think it would make them feel a bit more comfortable, as well, having someone like me, who's like them, be able to help them."
She said more Indigenous social workers would help to break cycles of unemployment and homelessness.
"I think they just need to have more people that connect to them," Ms Hood said.
"If it wasn't for the people who I was working with, in the beginning, I don't think I would have been able to go through with the study."
