Before COVID hit Brad Hannaford was living what most would deem a comfortable Australian life. He had one house to his name, was married with two children and operated his own business.
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However, after COVID imposed tight lockdown restrictions on his hometown in Healesville last year, it led to not only the breakdown of his locksmith business, which he had run since 2004, but also the disintegration of his marriage and a drastic change in his living arrangements.
Mr Hannaford, 62, has been in Ballarat for just shy of nine weeks now, living in his car. He said he made the journey from Healesville to Ballarat after the challenges he faced navigating his past relationship as well as Healesville's competitive rental and job markets.
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While his story is multi-layered, Mr Hannaford said his transition of having a home to becoming displaced began when his living situation with his former partner became detrimental to both his mental and physical health.
"My whole life has been a bit of challenge having had parents who were narcissistic and generally had quite a negative outlook on life," he said.
"Not throwing stones at anyone but the same situation seemed to follow with my former partner who was quite negative and who constantly put me down so I thought, 'no I'm not going to die over that' and so I made the decision to move into a rental."
In 2012 he moved into a three bedroom unit with his youngest son where he paid $330 per week.
Five years later his landlord hiked up his rental price to $400; a price Mr Hannaford could simply not afford.
At this time, Mr Hannaford still had his locksmith business where he lived in until his lease expired in 2019.
Two year years later and a year into the pandemic, Mr Hannaford experienced his first bout of homelessness, having had to turn to his car for shelter in Healesville after losing his business to existing debts and a lack of people unable to visit his shop.
Although Mr Hannaford said his living situation was not ideal, he was determined to re-enter the workforce.
With no luck insight in attaining a job in his hometown he looked elsewhere.
"I thought there's nothing happening in Healesville; I can't get any work; I can't get jobs driving a truck or as a locksmith so I thought I've got to get away from Healesville; I'm going to Warnambool," Mr Hannaford said.
Mr Hannaford eventually ended up securing a job at a local locksmith in Warnambool however, after one day on the job, he was struck with a severe knee infection which left him hospitalised for 10 days.
While his health concerns did not deter him from leaving Warnambool, as he said "it didn't hobble [him]", he encountered another battle of not being able to find a property.
"You can't get a place in Warnambool because there aren't any," Mr Hannaford.
Down on his luck and too proud to ask for welfare assistance, Mr Hannaford sought to use his superannuation funds to stay afloat.
After three years he had exhausted all his retirement money which led to him to turn to Ballarat.
"I don't drink, smoke or gamble and I don't spend on anything exorbitant but with the cost of living going up I ended up using all my savings," Mr Hannaford said.
"I had researched Ballarat and saw that there were hundreds of housing developments and new jobs so I decided to make the move."
Mr Hannaford, who now lives in his car in Ballarat East, said although he never imagined to be living in his car, he was overwhelmed by the support he had received from community members and welfare organisations including Uniting Care Ballarat and Salvation Army Ballarat.
"So I've had a lot of people come visit me and tap on my car window asking me if I'm alright, and I explain my situation to them and they've all been so empathetic," he said.
"One lady took me out for dinner and her mum brought me pizzas and I've never seen that before in my life; Ballarat seems to be full of very caring people.
"Uniting Care have also helped me with a numerous things including allowing me to access their showers as well as providing me lunch and 'goodie bags.'"
During his short time in Ballarat Mr Hannaford has continued to persevere having already applied for twenty jobs in the region.
He is hopeful to have a job in the foreseeable future as well as have his journey serve as lesson for others in similar scenarios.
"Initially I was too proud to ask for charity but I knew I had to do it and my experience could help someone else later," Mr Hannaford said.
