Extract from ABC News
Brisbane mother of two Zoe* has not had stable housing for more than two years but she is not what you might imagine when you think of someone experiencing homelessness.
"I live where I can," the 58-year-old told ABC Radio Brisbane.
"I keep a roof over my head by either house-sitting or couch surfing and staying with friends."
When those options were not available, Zoe turned to a women's homeless shelter where she lived for three months.
At another time, her health landed her in hospital.
"I've been house-sitting permanently for almost two years now," she said.
On census night in 2016, there were an estimated 6,866 women over 50 who were homeless — the figure representing a 31 per cent increase since 2011.
House-sitting has taken Zoe everywhere from Rockhampton in central Queensland to Bega in southern New South Wales and has seen her move 30 times in a 12-month period.
But it was not always that way, and the self-described homebody longs for the day when she can unpack her bags for good.
Just a few years ago, Zoe owned her home, where she raised her now-adult daughters and ran a number of businesses.
"I had a beautiful home," she said.
"And I didn't realise how bad my health was becoming because I had that safety net of a home.
"Then everything literally collapsed out like a trapdoor beneath me and I was bereft."
After moving out of the rental she and her ex-partner shared, Zoe was left at the gates of her storage unit with nowhere to go.
Zoe has a background in design and construction.
She imagined she would get back on her feet as she always had, but her deteriorating health, including neurological conditions, made it all but impossible to find work.
"I have chronic, complex illnesses," she said.
"I manage them but I don't have the stability of knowing from one day to the next whether I'm going to be upright, able to be thinking clearly, and I'm getting older.
"Anyone that's over 40 knows how hard it is to get a job, never mind someone who is over 50."
Now Zoe's only income is a disability pension, but she said $944 each fortnight was not enough to get into the rental market.
She said anyone who did not know her would call her a dole bludger.
'The almost homeless'
Journalist Therese Hall completed her masters of research in anthropology on "single older women with no place to call home" and said Zoe's experience was not unique, just invisible.
Ms Hall — a single mother herself — discovered there was a large cohort of older women finding themselves without a secure roof over their heads.
They were women who worked all their lives, married, raised families, ran businesses, owned homes.
In an edition of the Griffith Review titled Getting On, Hall referred to them as "the almost homeless".
These woman make up the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.
"This is a new pathway into homelessness and it's a late entrant," Ms Hall said.
"[These women have] spent most of their lives in conventional housing, renting or paying off a mortgage, so they're completely outside the system.
"Over their working lives, if they've been a single parent with one income, they've come up against gender-based low pay rates, part-time casual work … and they've popped out the other end without an asset, very little super, and with no savings."
Ms Hall said these women were traumatised by the situation they found themselves in.
"They are so used to making do, to being competent, to making ends meet," she said.
"But because of those factors building up against them — and you add in agism, less work as they get older — those strategies don't work anymore.
"They expected to be a doting grandmother or enjoying leisure time. So they are actually quite emotionally traumatised by finding themselves within proximity to homelessness.
"Even if they're not literally on the street they're feeling so vulnerable.
"Often the health problems … follow this proximity to homelessness.
"If they didn't have the health problem before, they get it afterwards."
What about social housing?
Ms Hall said out of the 30 women she interviewed for her thesis, just two — both in their late 60s — where able to enter social housing.
"Most of them, especially the women in their 50s, were not eligible for the aged pension and they're on JobSeeker. They are the ones really slipping through the cracks.
The Queensland Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy said it was building 5,500 social and affordable homes across Queensland between 2017 and 2027 and said there were additional support services available.
"Homelessness can happen to anyone at any time and for a wide range of reasons including domestic and family violence, serious illness or death of the income earner, or long-term disadvantage," the department said in a statement.
Outside of social housing, the department said women could access housing assistance products — bond loans, rental grants, RentConnect, headleasing, and rent subsidies.
"About 70 per cent of customers using this service are women," the department said.
"In the 2019-20 financial year, we provided 21,523 bond loans and 9,524 rental grants to help people secure a rental home in the private rental market.
"Under the Home Assist Secure program, older women aged 60 years and over or anyone living with disability can access safety information and assistance with critical maintenance services for people unable to undertake or pay for maintenance."
Zoe's message to others
Zoe said she wanted to use her lived experience to advocate for women in a similar position and help others avoid falling through the cracks.
Facing an uncertain future, she said she wanted to send a message to younger generations.
"Have your financial back-up plan — and a man is not a plan," Zoe said.
"And know that despite your best laid plans, things can go pear-shaped."
The Queensland Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy encourages anyone who was at risk of, or experiencing homelessness, to contact the Homeless Hotline on 1800 474 753.
*Names have been changed to protect this person's identity.
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