FOR 78-year-old Barbara Beagan, the last few months inside her Cooks Hill unit have been "almost unbearable".
Ms Beagan has lived in the unit, managed by the NSW government, for around a decade. A long-time-asthma sufferer, she says for the last five years debris and fine dust particles have been falling from the ceiling.
The "popcorn ceiling" inside Ms Beagan's unit is a spray-on, vermiculite textured coating that was commonly used for finishing and sound proofing until the mid 1980s.
While ceilings of this type sometimes contain asbestos, a spokesperson for the Department of Planning and Environment said Ms Beagan's ceiling was tested in April 2019 and "no asbestos was detected".
After what Ms Beagan says were "years of hounding", the department had it ceiled an painted in April 2020.
"It was okay for a while but then, about three months ago, it started coming down again," Ms Beagan said.
"For about three or four weeks I could literally feel the dust in the air. I had to sit through that day in and day out because they wouldn't put me up in temporary accommodation until they started the job."
On December 15 last year the NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) arranged two coats of PVA adhesive and a coat of spray paint for the ceiling.
"They put me up in a hotel on the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and I came back Wednesday but the smell was too overwhelming," she said.
"I can't stand being in the shower anymore because the smell is so strong in there. I think they've tipped all the stuff they've used to seal the ceiling down the drain and I can't breath in there now."
More than the smell, Ms Beagan said the ceiling hasn't stopped dropping debris - coating the house in dust and "a glue like substance".
"I prayed to god it had been fixed but woke up and it was all over my bed and it's been coming down ever since," she said.
Since December, Ms Beagan spends most nights sleeping with a hat - which belonged to her late daughter - covering her face, in order to avoid the dust.
With no family in the area to stay with and unable to afford alternate accommodation on her pension, Ms Beagan said some nights she sleeps on two chairs in the dining room to avoid the worst of it.
"It is having an unbelievable impact on not only my physical health and my asthma but also my mental health," she said.
"I don't feel safe or comfortable in my own home and I'm only getting around four hours sleep a night."
The Department of Planning and Environment spokesperson said a LAHC maintenance contractor, Ventia, went to the unit on Monday January 24 and "is providing a scope and quote to scrape off the vermiculite and paint the ceiling with textured paint". Ventia anticipate the work to be completed by February 4.
"The Department of Communities and Justice will arrange and pay for temporary accommodation and furniture storage if required," the spokesperson said.
However, Ms Beagan said she has had no offer from the department regarding accommodation prior to work being commenced and is still being forced to live in what she describes as "constant anxiety".
"I don't think they understand what kind of impact this is having on me," she said.
"I didn't ask for any of this. All I want is to go back to living my life but I don't even enjoy going to bed at night anymore.
"The department should accept responsibility and put me somewhere safe. It's all well and good that they are fixing the issue but I can't get back all the weeks I've spent with my health slowly declining."
