Gesell Refuses A Home

Gesell Refuses A Home

Newcastle Herald

Monday October 27, 2008

By MELISSA LYONS

HOUSING NSW said Kim Gesell would no longer be eligible for further temporary accommodation after she declined an offer of a long-term home.

The Herald reported this month Housing NSW placed the 1981 Newcastle showgirl in temporary accommodation at a Hamilton bed and breakfast after she said she had been homeless for 18 months.

Housing NSW said during its attempts to help Ms Gesell it had asked her to apply for public housing.

Since her placement at the bed and breakfast, it said it had found long-term accommodation for Ms Gesell and her two dogs, but she refused the offer and provided no reasonable explanation.

"We have again asked her to consider this accommodation," a spokesman said.

Ms Gesell admitted she stayed with her parents for part of the 18-month period she said she was homeless: "I will say that I did stay there for a couple of months . . . ," she said.

Housing NSW said that if a person did not take up reasonable offers of help, it could not continue to pay for temporary accommodation.