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IT COULD BE YOU: Female, Single, Older and Homeless

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IT COULD BE YOU: Female, Single, Older and Homeless domestic violence do job loss job loss job female, single, older and homeless homeIt could ownership be you: ho poverty poverty po- gender inequity gen living alone living alo crisis crisis crisis crisi renting renting rentin addiction addiction a divorce divorce divor medicalLudo McFerran medical med no income no income . IT COULD BE YOU: female, single, older and homeless. > 1 ISBN: 978-0-9751994-5-9 ©August 2010 This study and report was a collaborative project of Homelessness NSW, the Older Women’s Network NSW and the St Vincent de Paul Society, with support provided by the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse. Researched and authored by Ludo McFerran with assistance from Sonia Laverty. The project was funded by the Office for Women’s Policy, Department of Premier and Cabinet, NSW Government and the St Vincent de Paul Society (NSW). The author wishes to thank Sonia Laverty and Sue Cripps for their support and friendship through this project. Other important contributors have been Trish O’Donohue, Trish Bramble and Bobbie Townsend, and many thanks to the support team in the Older Women’s Network NSW, including Matina Mottee, Jane Mears, Joy Ross and Penne Mattes. We all want to thank the women who were interviewed for this report. We hope that their lives continue to improve and that their stories contribute to better policy and housing supply to prevent homelessness for older women in the future. Sue Cripps CEO Homelessness NSW 99 Forbes Street Woolloomooloo NSW 2011 | PO Box 768 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 (02) 9331 2004 | 0417 112 311 [email protected] | www.homelessnessnsw.org.au Older Women’s’ Network NSW Inc. 87 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point, NSW 2000 Phone 02 92477046 [email protected] | www.ownnsw.org.au Design/Print P3 UNSW Ref No: 46592 2 < IT COULD BE YOU: female, single, older and homeless. Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................4 Recommendations: ............................................................................................................ 4 Section one: The context ............................................................................................7 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 7 Note on how we define ‘older’ ............................................................................................. 7 The background for this study ............................................................................................. 8 Literature review: understanding gender .............................................................................. 8 Ageing, housing and place ................................................................................................. 9 Housing trends: the change in marital status ......................................................................... 10 Ageing, gender and poverty ................................................................................................ 11 Living alone: a gendered state ............................................................................................ 13 Recent research on single and older women .......................................................................... 14 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 15 Section two: The research background ......................................................................17 Aims and methodology ....................................................................................................... 17 Participating services ......................................................................................................... 17 SAAP data provided to study for single women and older female clients .................................... 18 Section three: Thirty-one stories ..............................................................................21 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 21 The basic demographics of the thirty-one women aged 45 and older ........................................ 21 Early life ........................................................................................................................... 22 Work ............................................................................................................................... 23 A lifetime of violence and abuse .......................................................................................... 24 A crisis can catapult women into homelessness ...................................................................... 26 The family safety net ......................................................................................................... 27 Housing careers: where had women lived? ............................................................................ 28 Getting the housing right .................................................................................................... 31 More than the roof: the assets ............................................................................................ 32 Mental health .................................................................................................................... 32 Physical health .................................................................................................................. 34 Addiction ......................................................................................................................... 35 Prison .............................................................................................................................. 35 What do women want? ...................................................................................................... 35 Section four: Housing solutions for older women .......................................................37 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 37 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 37 The need for a gendered housing and homelessness policy ..................................................... 37 A definition and count of homelessness that is inclusive of older women’s experience ................. 38 Affordable single person housing stock: the housing supply mismatch ...................................... 39 Secondary dwellings .......................................................................................................... 40 Shared equity ................................................................................................................... 42 Social housing ................................................................................................................... 42 A homeless service system that responds to the needs of older women .................................. 44 Boarding houses ............................................................................................................... 45 Shared housing ................................................................................................................ 46 It doesn’t all happen in the city ........................................................................................... 46 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 48 IT COULD BE YOU: female, single, older and homeless. > 3 Executive Summary This report documents a collaborative project which sought Recommendations: to interrogate the experience of older women and the reflection of that experience in policy. The project sought an 1. Collect mainstream homeless and housing data inclusive homelessness definition, and to build a more robust disaggregated by sex that enables the development of a knowledge base through which to inform policy and service gendered homeless and housing policy. delivery to this group. 2. Consult with older women on their experience and needs The study was prompted by evidence of increasing numbers when developing mainstream homeless and housing of older women entering for the first time the homeless strategies. population, and the concern of the homeless service system 3. Set targets to meet the needs of older women in all that demand could not be met. To put the experience of relevant strategies. these older women into context the study examined the evidence of the combined impact of housing trends affected 4. Fund a quantitative study to identify numbers of ‘at by changing demographics, the impact of ageing, and housing risk’ older women. entrenched financial disadvantage on women. Combined with the qualitative evidence from the thirty one homeless older 5. Adapt this quantitative methodology to ABS Census women, the study concluded that being female, older, and counts of the homeless. single is to be at housing risk. 6. Balance quantitative data on homelessness with evidence Most of the women interviewed for this study did not fit of economic disadvantage putting older women at risk. the profile of older homeless people: most had worked throughout their lives, raised children, and endured abusive 7. Housing policy ensures that appropriate
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