Homeless Indigenous elder died after years on 'priority' WA public housing waitlist
Patricia Blowes lives with 10 people at her cousin's three-bedroom property in South Kalgoorlie. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)
In short:
An Indigenous man on Western Australia's "priority" public housing waitlist has died while undergoing cancer treatment.
His family says he suffered significant stress due to his living arrangements.
What's next?
Advocates say more needs to be done to refurbish dozens of boarded-up houses in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
An Indigenous elder undergoing cancer treatment died after spending nearly three years sleeping in cars and on sofas while waiting for public housing in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, his family says.
Warning: This story contains the name of an Indigenous person who has died.
The Wongatha man from Western Australia's Goldfields, known as Mr McIntyre for cultural reasons, died in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, about 600 kilometres east of Perth, on February 6 after battling emphysema and lung cancer.
His family says the 61-year-old spent his final days at his niece's property, sleeping on a mattress in the lounge room, while breathing with the aid of oxygen tanks.
WA's Department of Housing and Works (DHW) confirmed Mr McIntrye was "priority listed" for one-bedroom seniors' accommodation in Kalgoorlie-Boulder in July 2023.
Mr McIntyre's daughter, Patricia Blowes, said she was angry her father had been couch surfing at friends' and relatives' homes, despite his "priority" status.
She said ongoing health treatments at Kalgoorlie Health Campus had forced her father to relocate from the remote Mount Margaret Aboriginal community, near Laverton in the northern Goldfields, about four years ago.
"When we didn't have anywhere to stay, we slept in the car with my father in the front seat and my daughter lying across me in the back seat," Ms Blowes said.
Mattresses are stacked during the day in the carport of the house and used for sleeping in the driveway at night. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)
Priority waitlist
A department spokesperson said 235 applicants for public housing were "priority listed" across WA's Goldfields, as of January 31.
They said Mr McIntyre had a tenancy in Mount Margaret, about 950km north-east of Perth, from July 2019 to August 2025, but had transferred the property to another person without advising the department.
Ms Blowes said her father suffered significant stress related to his living arrangements.
"He was a happy-go-lucky man, he loved life, he loved his family," she said.
"If he had his own house, it would have been easier for him and he wouldn't have been under as much stress.
"He was very stressed out ... he didn't want to go to the doctors. He just gave up and we had to watch him deteriorate."
The outback city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is home to about 30,000 residents. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)
Crowded house
Ms Blowes and her 20-year-old daughter have also been on the priority waitlist for housing since September 2024. Both are living in the same house where Mr McIntyre died.
She says the three-bedroom property has 10 people living there, including two in a backyard tent and others who slept on mattresses in the carport.
"I don't know where we're going to go after this … our safe place was dad, because he always looked after us," Ms Blowes said.
Marelda Tucker says there are no houses available and nearly 400 people on a waiting list. (ABC Goldfields: Jarrod Lucas)
Goldfields Indigenous Housing Organisation (GIHO) chief executive, Marelda Tucker, said the not-for-profit had nearly 400 people on its waiting list.
"Turning people away is the hardest part. It's probably a seven-to-10-year wait at the moment,"she said.
"There are so many people coming here for housing, but we just have nothing to give them.
"We are trying to get funding to purchase some new properties, but that's a slow process and we're trying to get our people trained to do maintenance."
Ms Tucker said overcrowding and couch surfing were massive problems, noting the "large percentage" of Kalgoorlie-Boulder houses that are boarded up.
Boarded-up public housing on Piccadilly Street in Kalgoorlie. (ABC Goldfields: Robert Koenig-Luck)
Housing advocate Betsy Buchanan said Mr McIntrye's death was a "completely avoidable tragedy".
"Just round the corner from where he suffered and died were boarded-up public houses, owned by the government," she said.
"Almost one in six public houses in the Goldfields is empty … the highest in the state."
Vacant houses
The spokesperson said the department had added 54 social housing dwellings to its Goldfields stock since 2021. A further 20 are under contract or construction, while 326 had been refurbished since 2020.
But more than 15 per cent of its Goldfields houses — 158 out of 1,016 — remained vacant "for a range of reasons", including awaiting allocation to new tenants or refurbishment.
They said 28 of those would not be "returning to stock".
Ms Blowes said she was angry at the time it took to refurbish the houses.
"I want the government not to turn its back, to take notice," she said.
"There are houses in Kalgoorlie that have been boarded up for little reason.
"Fix them up and put the next person on the priority list in there, look after the people that are sick."