He’s 66, sick, and grieving—now they want to evict him

When long-standing support systems shift behind closed doors, vulnerable Australians are often the ones left in limbo.

One such case has quietly unfolded in Perth, highlighting the human cost of housing decisions made beyond public view.

What’s at stake is far more than just a roof overhead.


When Noongar elder Harvey Coyne was hospitalised yet again, this time following another heart attack, his mind wasn’t just on survival.

It was also on where he’d go once discharged—and whether he’d still have a home to return to.

Sitting up in his bed at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth, his voice raw and unsteady, the 66-year-old summed it up plainly: ‘Without it, I’m pretty well buggered.’


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Hospitalised elder faces eviction while recovering. Image source: Facebook/NITV


Coyne had already been dealt more than his share of hardship. He lived with severe heart disease—requiring a triple bypass surgery—as well as emphysema, hypertension, and blindness in one eye.

Earlier this year, he broke his hip in a fall. On top of it all, he carried the trauma of being removed from his family during the Stolen Generations.

But just as he faced yet another life-threatening medical event, a new fight had landed on his doorstep—this time from his housing provider.

Housing Choices Australia, which managed Coyne’s community housing unit in Kenwick on Perth’s south-eastern outskirts, had moved to evict him.

The no-fault eviction notice—still legal in Western Australia—arrived while Coyne was in hospital, grieving the death of his nephew who had lived with him.


Coyne’s advocates claimed the timing and method of the eviction amounted to cruelty. If successful, they said, it would leave him homeless and force him back onto the streets—something he thought he had left behind in 2021 when he first moved into the property.

The organisation had previously raised concerns around noise, visitors, and cleanliness—claims Coyne rejected. Court filings also revealed he underwent 10 property inspections in a single year, something he said he ‘struggled to address…due to my age and health’.

The case attracted the attention of respected health figures, including Emeritus Professor Fiona Stanley—the former Australian of the Year and namesake of the very hospital where Coyne lay.

In a letter sent to Housing Choices Australia in March, Stanley expressed ‘grave’ concern over the eviction effort, especially in light of Coyne’s need for surgery.

‘This is an extremely serious operation with a number of risks for Mr Coyne. It is imperative that he has stable and secure accommodation in which to prepare for this procedure and then to recover and rehabilitate afterwards,’ she wrote.

‘Mr Coyne’s condition is life-threatening, and it is inconceivable to me that he should face homelessness at this time.’


His case was due to be decided in the Perth magistrates court next week.

Housing Choices Australia said it could not comment on Coyne’s specific situation due to ongoing legal proceedings and privacy obligations.

Its CEO, David Fisher, issued a statement saying the organisation was ‘committed to providing safe, secure, and appropriate housing for all our residents and supporting them to sustain their tenancies’.

He added: ‘As a not-for-profit community housing provider, we operate under the same standards and regulatory requirements as government housing agencies, and we take that responsibility seriously.’

The group also told advocates that it had been working with the state government to find a ‘sustainable housing solution that considers both his immediate and longer-term needs’.

But Coyne’s supporters argued the core issue ran much deeper.


According to housing advocate Jesse Noakes and several academics, Coyne’s struggle reflected a larger, systemic problem. The unit he lived in would once have been public housing, but over time the state shifted thousands of such properties to community housing providers like Housing Choices Australia.

In a briefing paper, human geographer Dr David Kelly from RMIT’s Centre for Urban Research noted that while public housing stock had declined by 7.4 per cent in the past decade, community housing units had risen by 61.4 per cent. That increase was aided in part by generous government subsidies.

Kelly said this trend had ‘redefined both the nature of the tenancy and the rights attached to it’.

‘Tenants like Harvey, had they remained in public housing, would have been afforded stronger on-paper protections against eviction, and subjected to fewer behavioural interventions disguised as support,’ he wrote.

He added that community housing organisations (CHOs) operated under different frameworks and priorities.


Housing Choices Australia was a major player in the sector. As of mid-2024, it owned 3,099 housing units and managed another 4,395. Its reported assets sat at $1.2 billion, with financial records showing about half of its revenue—roughly $33 million—came from government funding.

Publicly, the group stated its vision was for ‘all people in Australia to have a safe, affordable home and the opportunity to thrive’.

But WA Greens MLC Tim Clifford believed Coyne’s ordeal showed how that vision wasn’t always realised in practice.

‘It is clear from Mr Coyne’s case that the choice to outsource public housing to big NGOs means that there is less transparency, less accountability and less access to justice for renters,’ Clifford said.

He described the potential eviction as ‘unconscionable’ given Coyne’s fragile health and life circumstances.

As judgment loomed, Coyne remained in hospital—waiting not only for heart surgery, but for an answer that could decide whether he had a home to heal in afterward.

Key Takeaways
  • Noongar elder Harvey Coyne, facing severe health issues, was served a no-fault eviction notice while hospitalised.
  • Advocates and health figures, including Professor Fiona Stanley, condemned the timing and potential consequences of the eviction.
  • Coyne’s case highlighted the broader shift from public to community housing and the reduced tenant protections that came with it.
  • Critics argued that outsourcing public housing reduced transparency and justice, as Coyne awaited both surgery and a court ruling.

With more older Australians relying on housing providers in their later years, do you think enough is being done to protect tenants like Harvey? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

In a previous story, we looked at how the housing crisis is hitting older Australians hard—and how little support they’re getting from major political parties.

For seniors like Harvey, whose health and stability depend on secure housing, this crisis isn’t just a headline—it’s personal.

If you’re wondering what’s being done at a policy level to fix the problem, that piece is worth a look too.

Read more: Older Australians are also hurting from the housing crisis. Where are the election policies to help them?
 

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I have the same opposite me. I only moved in 6 months ago and was told this was the good part of town.
My young neighbour has 4 young children she screams at all day long.
Different guys come and go and fights go on on a regular basis. She takes these fights out into the street and yells at the top of her voice with the most atrocious language.
The other week I was working in my front garden and she was screaming and abusing the latest flame at the top of her voice. I decided to take myself inside and as I was going up my front stairs she yelled at me "yes f*** off inside you f***ing dog.
I've never even spoken to her, mind my own business. The police are there continually.
When she gets angry she gets in her car and smashes it into her front fence.
It's colorbond with the lattice panels on top, so far she's smashed 5, plus two on the fence of the adjoining property.
Windows smashed and rubbish all over the place .
Nothing much they can do as she owns the place. Her previous partner committed suicide and she got his life insurance and bought the place so she can't be evicted.
And then her relatives say the neighbours are racial for reporting her.
🤷‍♀️
Isn’t it terrifying for you to be living with that on a regular basis ……. I’d keep well out of her way and even if you tried to be friendly you’d probably never see the end of her or her family…….I feel sorry that you have to put up with this :confused:
 
As I said veggie not saying anymore on the subject. But I feel you have made it personal and insulting
1.I was not born with a sliver spoon in my mouth, one of six people and a steelworker for a dad,and
2. My husband was not in a $250k wage in the ,80s.🤣(Unheard off) and yes I am not claiming to be a puritan,he could get drunk on $2 back in his day too when he was 18 he tells me,
But, he didn't continue to get drunk or gamble his money,gave up smoking as a married man with two kiddies 11 months apart and started to behave like a responsible married father a d made decisions which would help his children and himself and his stay at home wife for our retirement and
3.We didn't inherit great fortunes from our parents that lived week to week like most and I don't consider them or us an arrogant silver spooned yuppies with great wealth that came or way.
So I am sorry to say,veggie, but you can have a decent retirement and life if you plan and organise yourself from the start.
No maybe you might've done with one car(old) and didnt drive a Harley on the side(I know plenty that did, and now whinge cos they are on a pension and have nothing and it's not big enough.
Lastly let's not blame the new immigrants to this country for our pensioners who are 70 and still renting and have nothing.
Definitely last comment on this.
Have a lovely day and enjoy the banter.
Bye....
 
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My husband and I worked our guts out when we were young, both working two jobs just to get a deposit to buy a house before we had children so I could stay home and look after them which I did. We put both of our boys through private primary school and private colleges working hard to pay for them to have a better future. We most certainly were not on high paying jobs nor did we inherit money - we have never had a hand out from the government and have always paid our way - we have always worked hard to have what we have now. All this man had to do was keep the place clean and not be a noisy nuisance to other tenants, it must have been one hell of a mess to require 10 inspections in a year.
 
You are 100% correct, I don't think these do-gooders here would like to live next to someone who caused noise and cleanliness problems in a unit next to them. And i'm sick of them mentioning that they are indigenous all the time looking for preferential treatment and sympathy - in my world we are all the same do the right thing and there won't be an issue. Who is the woman in the picture with him, I assume his wife, what's wrong with her keeping the place clean I'm 74 and have battled cancer twice but I keep my house clean with the help of a lady who now comes once a week to vacuum and wash my floors the rest I do myself. Stop looking for sympathy and clean your unit keep the noise down and stop annoying the hell out of other tenants who have the same rights you do.
Why do you assume he has a wife because of a woman in a picture? I read he's grieving the death of his nephew who lived with him. No mention of a wife.
 
At the time of the Voice referendum, I seem to remember that $4 bn was spent on Aboriginal support agencies. More recently, a figure of around $30 bn has been debated. Why is some of this money not available to help people like this man?
 
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Isn’t it terrifying for you to be living with that on a regular basis ……. I’d keep well out of her way and even if you tried to be friendly you’d probably never see the end of her or her family…….I feel sorry that you have to put up with this :confused:
Yes, I'm very disappointed because I had the choice of staying in my previous home or moving to this one and now I feel like I've made the wrong choice
My.daughter was very distressed after my husband passed away in our other home and she wouldn't go into the kitchen as my husband had choked and collapsed on the floor there. Because he passed away at home the police had to come, as well as the original volunteer ambulance, and two hours later the paramedics . It took many hours before he could be moved.As my daughter has an intellectual disability it was very hard on her
I thought I was doing the right thing but now I've landed us in this situation.
We had such nice neighbours at our other
home.
I really don't want to move again but I might have too.
 
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Reactions: Miss Chris
And here we go again....the sob story..we all probably have one, intergenerational trauma is NOT unique to indigenous and here's a story YOU want to hear an indigenous family single mother 5 kids swelling out to 10 kids on friday nights, lives across the street, First to go, the father/partner went to jail for offences and then the mother went to jail for offences...that was in Jan this year, the place was a pigsty with rubbish everywhere rats, snakes etc..and yet many complaints by residents saw NOTHING DONE! Given the current housing crisis that house went empty until they got out of jail 6 months later! No wonder people are up in arms when the special treatment is GIVEN ONLY TO A MINORITY!
Dead right. The laziest people on the planet and they think we owe them.
 
I have the same opposite me. I only moved in 6 months ago and was told this was the good part of town.
My young neighbour has 4 young children she screams at all day long.
Different guys come and go and fights go on on a regular basis. She takes these fights out into the street and yells at the top of her voice with the most atrocious language.
The other week I was working in my front garden and she was screaming and abusing the latest flame at the top of her voice. I decided to take myself inside and as I was going up my front stairs she yelled at me "yes f*** off inside you f***ing dog.
I've never even spoken to her, mind my own business. The police are there continually.
When she gets angry she gets in her car and smashes it into her front fence.
It's colorbond with the lattice panels on top, so far she's smashed 5, plus two on the fence of the adjoining property.
Windows smashed and rubbish all over the place .
Nothing much they can do as she owns the place. Her previous partner committed suicide and she got his life insurance and bought the place so she can't be evicted.
And then her relatives say the neighbours are racial for reporting her.
🤷‍♀️
Thats pretty normal behavior. We even have a couple of those idiots in politics.
 
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Court filings also revealed he underwent 10 property inspections in a single year, something he said he ‘struggled to address…due to my age and health’.
Who do Housing Choices Australia think they are? They are acting in an illegal manner.

From the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia:-

Q: How often can a real estate agent carry out routine inspections?​

A: Not more than four times each year. Inspections must be held between 8am and 6pm. Tenants must be advised if the inspection is before midday or after midday.


Housing Choices Australia should be taken to the State Administrative Tribunal and sued for damages.
Give them a break, mate. They are dealing with the indigenous. That is not an easy thing to do.
We are lucky that they haven't burned the house down yet, as happens a lot in this country.
I agree with the 10 property inspections. Should be more.
 
Maybe the older Aussies that need all this help should have planned for their retirement years ago like the rest of us.Salary sacrificed,didn't smoke drink and gamble what they did earn,and now are crying poor.You should have your house flat caravan whatever you were able to afford depending on your income,paid off by now,you are 68 if of pension age?What have you done with your money since you were 16 years old,???
I hardly think the immigrants that are coming into this country with degrees in their chosen field,are buying a house,opening business and paying to school their children and let's not forget,paying their taxes,are hardly our wingy stingy pensioners that have never helped themselves,fault.
My rant for the day.Not saying any more on it.We have had duze s and dozens and dozens of these discussions over the years and I am not do sure the sdc people writing for this column, don't do it on purpose to get all our blood pressures up.
Good day to everyone.
"What have you done with your money since you were 16 years old,???"
That's easy to answer.
 
A bit judgmental there!

We all weren't born with a silver spoon in our mouths.

Not everybody has a job paying $250000 a year or inherited millions from deceased relatives.

And I'm sick of false puritans who claim how great they are and have no vices or done anything wrong in their lives.
No, but most of us get off our arses and help ourselves. Not so with the majority of the minority, eh Vege?
 
My husband and I worked our guts out when we were young, both working two jobs just to get a deposit to buy a house before we had children so I could stay home and look after them which I did. We put both of our boys through private primary school and private colleges working hard to pay for them to have a better future. We most certainly were not on high paying jobs nor did we inherit money - we have never had a hand out from the government and have always paid our way - we have always worked hard to have what we have now. All this man had to do was keep the place clean and not be a noisy nuisance to other tenants, it must have been one hell of a mess to require 10 inspections in a year.
Same here.
We were as poor as hell on our rural dirt farm, but all of us 6 kids have worked hard and made it well in life.
Never heard of an indigenous family doing the same.
 
Yes, I'm very disappointed because I had the choice of staying in my previous home or moving to this one and now I feel like I've made the wrong choice
My.daughter was very distressed after my husband passed away in our other home and she wouldn't go into the kitchen as my husband had choked and collapsed on the floor there. Because he passed away at home the police had to come, as well as the original volunteer ambulance, and two hours later the paramedics . It took many hours before he could be moved.As my daughter has an intellectual disability it was very hard on her
I thought I was doing the right thing but now I've landed us in this situation.
We had such nice neighbours at our other
home.
I really don't want to move again but I might have too.
I think the decision you made to move was the right one….Those events must have been very traumatic for both of you and I hope it’s not too distressing for your daughter to be living where you are. It’s not really my place to give advice on a personal level, but I think you should think of the long term mental effects on both yourself and your daughter, of living so close to violence 🌺
 
I think the decision you made to move was the right one….Those events must have been very traumatic for both of you and I hope it’s not too distressing for your daughter to be living where you are. It’s not really my place to give advice on a personal level, but I think you should think of the long term mental effects on both yourself and your daughter, of living so close to violence 🌺
Yes, you are right. I'm hopeful she might move on. The welfare took her children yesterday, and there's a rumour going around that she has been talking about moving back to the city.
Apparently, she thinks the police are picking on her??? I wonder why??Anyway, here's hoping .
 

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