“WE can help them,” declared Anne Moffat, after her husband handed her an article from Saturday’s Border Mail.
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Homeless man Paul and his pregnant fiancee Jane had searched far and wide for a helping hand, and found nothing.
But that all changed when the Border community heard their story.
Amid the 20 individual offers for help was a permanent solution the couple were after — a home of their own to rent.
Albury’s Wayne and Anne Moffat will rent out a three-bedroom home in Glenroy to Jane and Paul (not their real names) for the discounted weekly rate of $160.
The couple run Own a Home, a business which allows those who have been turned away from the banks, including new migrants, to purchase their own property.
They know how important it is to be given a chance, as their parents had helped them buy their first home.
“It’s sort of paying it forward,” Mrs Moffat said.
“There’s nothing worse than trying to do the right thing and having doors shut in your face left, right and centre.”
Paul and Jane, who at 18 is 33 weeks’ pregnant, spent a week sleeping in their Commodore at Mungabareena Reserve, Noreuil Park or parking areas around the Lake Hume foreshore.
They had come to Albury seeking a better start for their newborn and found two-year waiting lists for public housing.
At the weekend, they returned to Mittagong when Jane’s mother was hospitalised, but plan to drive back to Albury next week to a freshly painted, rental property.
Jane couldn’t believe it when there were so many Border residents willing to help, after others had turned them away.
When she spoke to Mrs Moffat on the phone yesterday she couldn’t stop saying thank you.
“She sounded like the most beautiful lady,” Jane said.
“Before I was kind of ready to give up hope.
“The community is obviously one that gets together quite a lot to help people.”
The Moffats say Paul and Jane might one day be able to buy the home.