At Risk: Understanding the population size and demographics of older women at risk of homelessness in Australia

The housing circumstances of low income older households, in particular female headed households, has become a matter of significant concern over the last few years with increasing numbers of women at risk of homelessness and experiencing homelessness, often for the first time in older age. Unfortunately, there is no one data set that can capture all of the factors that appear to influence low income older women’s risks of homelessness. This project utilises the longitudinal Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey – collected annually since 2001 – which allows the comparison of people’s characteristics and experiences over time. As well as reporting descriptive statistics an econometric model is used to estimating the risk of homelessness for women as they age.