97yo forced into homelessness

A woman who is almost 100-years-old has been forced out of her home after her pension was cut while she was trapped overseas during the pandemic.

Sara Mulet, 97, has been sleeping on her son’s couch for eight months in his one-bedroom unit in the inner-Sydney suburb of Glebe after she lost her Department of Housing home.

“I want to have my house; my bedroom,” Sara told A Current Affair.

The elderly woman became trapped in South America while visiting family when the Covid-19 pandemic struck and Australia’s borders closed.

Her son said she had a return ticket for April 8 2020, however she was unable to board that flight.

Even when international travel resumed, Ms Mulet was unable to find a suitable flight home for months.

“There was a flight available through the Middle East, that was a 40-hour flight and she couldn‘t do it anyway because of her frail age,” Sergio Mulet said.

Despite being trapped overseas through no fault of her own, the federal government halved her aged pension, saying she had been overseas for too long to receive the full amount.

The reduced amount meant that she was unable to afford the rent on the community housing unit that she had lived in for almost 20-years.

“My house was beautiful inside, beautiful,” Ms Mulet said.

“It came to the point where she said just give them the keys and relinquish the house, because she couldn‘t afford it, she could barely eat.”

Returning to Australia in July 2022, Ms Mulet had no place to go except for her son’s tiny apartment.

She recently discovered that her old unit has been boarded up with no one living in it, adding to her anguish.

Her son asked the NSW Department of Justice and Communities for a two-bedroom unit that they could share, so that he’s able to care for his frail mother.

“They act as if they’re against you, they act as if you’re an enemy,” Mr Mulet said.

ACA said late on Friday, the department had come up with two possible homes for the pair, ACA said.