Older women the new face of homelessness

Older women have emerged as one of the most vulnerable groups in relation to housing insecurity and homelessness in Australia in recent years. They are not a group that is historically associated with homelessness and indeed, many older women have never been homeless before. They are less visible than other groups and the current service system is ill-prepared generally to provide timely housing solutions. The numbers of older women experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness are significant. The trends are definitive. And the impacts on individual women are major.