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7.30 Report
More older women becoming homeless
Posted Fri 30 Sep 2016, 8:07pm
Updated Fri 30 Sep 2016, 8:07pm
There are calls to dramatically increase the amount of affordable housing as more and more older women become homeless.
HAYDEN COOPER, PRESENTER: There's a new group joining the ranks of Australia's homeless: older women.
More and more women over 55 are finding that a lack of superannuation, combined with illness, divorce or soaring rental prices can leave them struggling to make ends meet.
On the eve of the International Day of Older Persons, Mission Australia is calling on state and federal governments to provide more affordable housing.
Tracy Bowden with this report.
MEREDITH SMITH: It's very depressing, knowing that you're not paying your way. You know, you're not making it on your own.
TRACY BOWDEN, REPORTER: This is not how Meredith Smith pictured her life at 60.
MEREDITH SMITH: I just thought I would be sunning myself in the Bahamas. I thought we would travel and do all of these sorts of things, and, um, certainly never pictured myself in this position. And I was ashamed and embarrassed.
TRACY BOWDEN: The former nurse is living in temporary accommodation, waiting for permanent public housing.
MEREDITH SMITH: I put my name down on the housing list and all these things that I just didn't know that you could do. I thought it was for destitute people - and then I realised, I was one of those. (Laughs)
TRACY BOWDEN: Meredith Smith lived most of her life on Sydney's north shore. Her husband worked in finance. But when the couple divorced, life became more difficult.
MEREDITH SMITH: I had no superannuation, or very little. I thought because I owned my home - not outright, but because I had my home - that we'd manage. But with four children on a $20-an-hour job, it is very difficult to make ends meet.
TRACY BOWDEN: But the real struggle began when she was diagnosed with cancer. The family home was sold and the medical bills began to erode her savings.
MEREDITH SMITH: I also went overseas chasing a cure for something that, so far, there is no cure. So I allowed myself to be talked into things that were probably dodgy, to say the least.
TRACY BOWDEN: Another bout of cancer and Sydney's skyrocketing rents were the final straw.
MEREDITH SMITH: But my rent had gone up $150 in six months - and I couldn't absorb that. And so I had my car and I thought, well, that's where I'm going to have to live. I was down to, you know, like 60 cents in the bank. It is really frightening.
TRACY BOWDEN: And your family: it didn't work in terms of family?
MEREDITH SMITH: They just didn't have the room. I mean, if I had've been on the street or something, I'm sure they would have, you know, put a blow-up mattress in their lounge room or something. But it wasn't going to be a long-term solution.
(Meredith Smith opens the door of her flat to Lisa Belleri)
LISA BELLERI, MISSION AUSTRALIA: Hi, Meredith. How are you?
MEREDITH SMITH: Hi, Lisa. Come in.
LISA BELLERI: I met Meredith at her house, probably about seven months ago. And Meredith was lost and confused. She didn't know where to start. I remember she had a plastic bag of unopened bills.
MEREDITH SMITH (to Lisa): So this one's all sorted out, I think.
TRACY BOWDEN: Lisa Belleri from Mission Australia is Meredith Smith's case worker, helping her navigate a system she thought she'd never need to rely on.
LISA BELLERI: People think "homeless" is just people sleeping in parks and on the beach. But homeless comes in all sorts of different ways. It's people couch surfing, people sleeping at friends' places. They don't have a fixed address themselves.
CATHERINE YEOMANS, CEO, MISSION AUSTRALIA: We know from the 2011 Census that there was over 5,000 women over the age of 55 who were homeless.
TRACY BOWDEN: Mission Australia is seeing more and more women like Meredith, but the average waiting time for social housing is 10 years.
CATHERINE YEOMANS: Well, we think over many years, over many, many governments - both state and federal - have not invested enough in creating social housing stock across the country and also generating investment in affordable housing.
TRACY BOWDEN: Mission Australia wants the Commonwealth state and territory governments to fund at least 200,000 new social homes by 2025.
CATHERINE YEOMANS: If there's not enough affordable housing now - and we know there is not - and we know that there is an ageing population - which we do - then of course the situation is going to get worse unless we take action now.
BRAD HAZZARD, NSW SOCIAL HOUSING MINISTER: I think governments right around Australia have been caught not understanding the full extent of this emerging problem, particularly for women.
TRACY BOWDEN: NSW Social Housing Minister Brad Hazzard says that one of Mission Australia's proposals has already been adopted: leveraging private investment for new, affordable housing.
BRAD HAZZARD: We've identified ways of trying to use taxpayers' assets - the land and old stock - to work with the private sector to build a lot of new houses. In fact, we're aiming to build around about 23,000 new or renewed social housing.
At the same time we're also looking at, on individual government lots where we're doing those developments, how we can provide affordable housing.
CATHERINE YEOMANS: Now, we know some state governments around the country are making forays into investing into an increased number of social and affordable housing. But it's only just touching the edges of what's really required.
TRACY BOWDEN: Women who are struggling financially are being urged to ask for help before they reach crisis point.
CATHERINE YEOMANS: That's the best time to come for help: when they're actually finding those bills mounting up and they're actually thinking they may not be able to afford their rent going forward. Reach out and ask for help then.
TRACY BOWDEN: Meredith Smith is grateful for the help she's received. She knows it will be a long wait, but the next step is a permanent home.
MEREDITH SMITH: Just having that weight lifted off me has improved my health, my attitude, my... everything, really.
It has been a very good lesson in being humble and realising that, you know, everybody can be in this situation.
HAYDEN COOPER: Tracy Bowden reporting.
Author Tracy Bowden
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