FEATURE STORY
Lost in the crowd with no place to call home It mostly hits women the hardest but being down and out could be only a pay cheque away for many. RUSSELL HUNTER investigates the very real plight of the ageing and homeless.
W
e see them on the street. Those poor folk – often with obvious mental issues – who sleep in alleyways, doorways and under bridges. But few of us imagine that we’re but two or three paydays away from sharing their fate. Homelessness is Australia’s and, increasingly, Queensland’s invisible scandal. The homeless tragedies we witness on our streets aren’t even the tip of the
iceberg. Most homeless people hide in plain sight. And increasingly they are women aged over 45. “People may not realise that the well-dressed woman you meet at a function is homeless and alone,” says Lynette Loffel of Housing for Older Women. “They are isolated. She could be a fugitive from domestic violence, divorced, cash poor and unable to afford a private
rental. The banks and mortgage lenders won’t touch her.” Some of them are couch surfing, others may be house sitting. Some sleep in their car if they have one. But all face, at some stage, the problems of clothing and feeding themselves as well as access to basic hygiene. It’s stressful and demeaning – particularly for women. “Single or divorced women over 40 find it hard to get a job,” says Ms Loffel. “They cannot be sure of being housed for the rest of their lives.” For people without a roof over their head the issue is simple, they just need to survive any way they can. But for those who seek to offer assistance and search for reasons, it can be a complex issue. “Women can become homeless for a range of reasons,” says Mark TuckerEvans, chief executive of Council of the Ageing (COTA) Queensland, a non-profit agency supported by the state government. “It could be a result of family breakdown leading to divorce. That’s just one cause.” But the common denominator is that many, if not most, are unable to buy a home. They are forced into the private rental market where owners – understandably – need to make the maximum return. As property prices escalate so too does the rent, so if the rent goes up and you can’t afford to pay there’s only one outcome. “There’s a need to ease the situation especially for women subject to domestic violence,” Mr Tucker-Evans says. “We
also advocate for alternative accommodation for renters when landlords resume their property.” And Queensland, he points out, is a state of regions. “This problem needs to be addressed at all three levels of government,” he says. “Government is looking at action plans, but we remain concerned that while some are doing well in the current circumstances, others struggle to make headway.”
“Not being able to buy a house again is an issue. Bosses think we are unemployable and it spirals down from there” Maggie Shambrook of Queensland Shelter agrees. “Yes, it’s a long and complicated story,” she says. “But where the will exists it can be addressed.” Gender inequality has fed into what is becoming a homelessness crisis. Women generally retire (if that’s the word) with substantially less superannuation than men. The pay gap contributes of course but many women will have worked in casual or part-time roles while simultaneously keeping a home and raising children. “And women tend to work in lowerpaid roles,” Ms Shambrook says.
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4 YOUR TIME MAGAZINE / August 2021
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28/07/2021 2:32:17 PM
