Older Women’s Pathways out of Homelessness in Australia

February 2014

Report commissioned by the Mercy Foundation. Authors: Dr Maree Peterson and Cameron Parsell

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Older women emerge as new face of homelessness

8 Apr 2014

Program on Radio National

'Older women emerge as new face of homelessness'

Click here  to download broadcast

 

State's housing plan is not good enough

The Age Monday April 14 2014

Editorial

The number of Victorian households waiting for public housing, about 34,000, is at the lowest level since 2007. This reflects a fairly consistent, declining trend since the Coalition came to government in 2010. Such improvements, generally, are to be welcomed. As the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has said, getting people into secure accommodation, a place they can call ''home'', helps improve their health and education, their links to the broader community and their employment prospects.

The government is building about 160 public housing sites at New Norlane outside Geelong, a program announced in 2011. However, in a damning report in 2012, the Auditor-General found the state's public housing situation was ''critical''. There was no long-term strategic plan for managing the properties and about 14 per cent were virtually obsolete.

 Read the article  online at the Age,
Click on the header to read the full article in text version
 

Older Women's Pathways out of Homelessness in Australia

"Older women's pathways out of homelessness in Australia" was launched on 14 April 2014 by  the Hon. Anna Bligh, CEO YWCA NSW.

There is strong anecdotal evidence that a growing group of people becoming homeless in Australia are women aged over 55.

The Mercy Foundation commissioned a research report from the University of Queensland to investigate this issue and look at possible solutions to the problem. Dr Maree Petersen and Dr Cameron Parsell undertook the research.

Click on the heading above to read the full press release.

The report is available from the Mercy Foundation website or

Download report  here.

Joan’s story – the benefits of good housing for older people

Joan was born in the Moreland Hospital and grew up in Melbourne.  Due to abuse by her father, she left home as a young child and spent some time in a children’s home and in the foster care system.  As an adult she worked as an enrolled nurse for many years, and raised her two sons as a single mother after separating from her husband.

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Older women fall victim to crisis in homelessness

Older women fall victim to crisis in homelessnes,

Julia May in the Age, Tuesday 9 April 2014.

In 2012 Joan Lansbury was living in a rundown flat in Pascoe Vale with dodgy hot water, a leaky toilet and appliances that didn't work properly.

She was too scared to complain in case the owner of the flat she'd rented for 15 years put the price up.

But suddenly he did just that, leaving Ms Lansbury, then retired after 25 years as a nursing aide, just $70 a fortnight to live on. She didn't know where to turn.

"I must admit things were so bad at some stages I didn't care whether I was alive or dead," she says.

Ms Lansbury is one of a soaring number of ordinary middle-class women who find themselves on the verge of homelessness in older age.

Read the article on-line at the AGE

or Click on the heading to read the story in full

Middle class, hard working and homeless

Middle class, hard working and homeles by Julia May

An alarming number of older women in Victoria are becoming homeless. Many are middle-class and reluctant to seek help.

It was hot water Joan Lansbury missed the most. If she felt some warmth in the kitchen tap she'd strip off and race to the shower, no matter the hour. "It didn't last long and you didn't know when the hot water was going to come on again," says Lansbury, 71.

Normally, she would fill the kitchen sink with water she had heated on the stove and sponge herself down. "Try that in the middle of winter. It's not much fun."

I don’t think I ever could see myself living on the street ... But the costs of living are so high that it really can happen to anyone. 

That was 2012, and Lansbury was living in a rundown flat in Pascoe Vale, in Melbourne's north, with dodgy hot water, a leaky toilet and appliances that didn't work properly.

Click on the story heading to read the story in text version.
Read the article  in full as it appeared in the Age online.
 

Older Persons Housing Fact Sheet

Information on Older people and Housing covering Homelessness, Home Ownership and Private Rental.

Download fact sheet

Connections Issue 4

Issue 4 looks at Park/Village Rules and what the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 states in relation to making and changing park/village rules.

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Bridging the rental divide

The Age, Saturday March 25 2014

About 25 per cent of Australians now rent privately, compared to 18 per cent in 1994-95. They are renting for longer and they are getting older. But amid our property extravaganza, government policies effectively treat renters as second-class citizens.

Read the article online at the Age

To read a text version of the artice click on the heading above.

Suzy Freeman-Greene is a senior writer at The Age.

image by Dean Osland the Age.

 

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"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort."

- Jane Austen

Authorized by Fiona York, Housing for the Aged Action Group 247 Flinders Lane Melbourne 3000