Single parent, three children, two dogs and a horse. Their rental property destroyed.

Retired couple, adult son, his partner and two grandchildren. Their own home extensively damaged and uninhabitable.

Young couple, five year old boy requiring wheelchair access, one cat and a cockatoo. Their rental property destroyed.

In the devastating aftermath of the Black Saturday bushfires, the Department of Human Services' Housing and Community Building Unit swung into action.

Their task - to urgently find accommodation for the individuals and families who lived in the 2,100 properties destroyed or made uninhabitable by the fires. In total, more than 1,200 households requested housing assistance from the department in the days and weeks that followed the fires.

Kim Wheatley, a bushfire housing officer in the Hume region, is one of the many people providing housing assistance. She says that accommodation is still an evolving situation for many bushfire affected people.

'Clients now understand that the reconstruction process is likely to take years not months, and many are still considering whether to rebuild, rent in the area or move elsewhere,' Kim said.

'Initially we worked with clients to place them in emergency accommodation and then temporary accommodation. Now we are busy helping them with the important task of finding a place to live permanently. To do this I work with clients to understand their needs and help develop an individual plan.'

'We discuss their goals, whether they want to rebuild, buy or rent elsewhere. We also discuss whether they have finance or would like me to work with their case manager to help them make decisions about permanent accommodation.'

Kim says that it has been a challenging environment to work in at times and having supportive colleagues is very important. 'My colleagues and I have felt great sadness when clients have told us what they went through,' she said. 'I will be forever grateful to my colleagues. We support each other and even manage to laugh together to get through the tougher moments.'

'Most of all I am thankful to have contributed, if only a small part, to helping people get their lives back to some sort of normality. After helping so many people with temporary accommodation after the fires, I'm looking forward to helping them into the right type of permanent accommodation so they can get on with the rest of their lives,' Kim said.

Further information

The Victorian Bushfire Accommodation Inquiry Line is 1800 006 468.

Kim Wheatley, Bushfire Housing Officer, Hume Region