When the street threatens: Deb faced eviction after losing her job

Thrown onto the dole and reliant on NewStart (now called JobSeeker), Deborah found the going tough and her physical and mental health began to fail.

Deborah couldn't find a new employer despite meeting all Centrelink's job search requirement. Her rent was $270 a week and took most of her welfare payment leaving almost nothing for groceries, medications or power. She was forced to apply to charities for food.

The proud and independent, but now desperate woman, found herself in the situation more and more older women are experiencing. She had few savings and those she had were quickly used up; she had no one to fall back on for help and she was facing eviction.

"I expected I would be living on the street," she said. "I started making plans for where I would sleep."

Visits to social and community housing providers were fruitless with many quoting waiting lists of many years or telling her to come back in a few weeks; but when she did they would tell her they still couldn't help her, or her case worker had moved on and they couldn't find her file. She was back to square one.

It was only when she read an article in The Senior about national advocacy organisation Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) that things began to turn around.

She visited the offices of HAAG in Melbourne and was surprised at the warm welcome she received.

With HAAG's help she was soon moving to a small community housing unit in Melbourne where the rent was much less than her private rental - about a third of her welfare payment. It's still not easy financially but she can manage.

Deborah still struggles emotionally with her situation - her Melbourne unit is a distance from her former home and she rarely gets to meet her old friends, so isolation and loneliness are an issue; but she is grateful to have a roof over her head and has been volunteering with HAAG helping homeless people and those at risk of homelessness.

A report released in August 2020 by HAAG and Social Ventures Australia found the number of older women at risk of homelessness in Australia was 405,000 including 165,000 women aged between 45 - 55 years and 240,000 women aged 55 years. Recent data released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed the number of women over 50 seeking homelessness help nationally has increased 17 per cent since 2018.

A person is considered to be in rental stress if their rent is more than 30 per cent of their income, but many single older people and some couples are paying 50 per cent or more to keep a roof over their head. It's a particularly critical situation for those, like Deborah not yet eligible for the age pension and forced to subsist on the woefully inadequate JobSeeker payment (currently $642.70 p/f or $691.00 p/f for a person over 60 after nine continuous months on the payment).

One in three people know an older woman in their community who is struggling to afford rent," said HAAG Executive Officer Fiona York.

"People are worried about their grandmothers, friends and neighbours forced to couch surf, or move far away from family, because there just aren't enough affordable homes."

Tasmanian MP Julie Collins was sworn in as Housing and Homelessness Minister in the new Labor Government and one of her first tasks will be overseeing the development of a National Housing and Homelessness Plan.

HAAG wants the process to begin in earnest and include genuine consultation with those who have first-hand experience of the housing crisis,

"We need to build at least 25,000 new public, community and affordable homes each year so older people, and others on low incomes, aren't left struggling to compete in Australia's brutal private rental market," said Ms York.

"We ask Minister Collins to listen to older women who are struggling to find an affordable home, and involve them in the design, development and implementation of the National Housing and Homelessness Plan."

*Not her real name.

HAAG: www.oldertenants.org.au 1300-765-178.