The growing face of homelessness

Women over 55 are the growing face of homelessness in Australia. With nowhere to go, they are forced to sleep rough, on couches or in their cars. And, as Melissa Field discovers, it could happen to anyone.

An unassuming suburban house in a quiet cul-de-sac seems an unlikely sanctuary, even though it’s in idyllic Byron Bay. Yet that’s what number 10 has become for the four women who currently live there. For Sharon Sweeney, 55, it’s the first real home she’s had in her adult life. “I’ve survived on the streets,” she tells The Weekly.

“That doesn’t always mean literally sleeping on the streets. I’d crash at friends’ places, rent a cheap motel or because I lived around Cairns, I’d know which resorts had sliding windows. I’d sneak in for a nap and a quick shower, and be out before 10am, when housekeeping comes. I’d sleep in squats and on the beach. It’s exhausting and dangerous. Two years ago, I’d had enough.”

Sharon has done it tough. A long-term involvement with drugs resulted in her ending up on the streets. Yet when she finally knew she had to get clean – or die – a determined Sharon spent six months weaning herself off drugs (including prescription painkillers) and then eight months in Byron’s The Buttery rehab clinic. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I couldn’t live with addiction or on the streets any more,” says Sharon.

Yet with her rehab done and no possibility of returning to the dangers awaiting her in Cairns, Sharon faced another hurdle. “I’d gotten clean, I’d started studying for my diploma in Community Services at TAFE – my

goal is to work with homeless people – but there was no way I could afford a private rental. I was terrified I’d end up on the streets again.”

Just as she faced that return to the streets, Sharon was offered a place on a program run by The SHIFT Project, a charity that offers homeless women temporary accommodation in that sand-coloured house. Sharon moved into the homey property at the end of 2015. “This place has given me a chance to set myself up for the next stage of my life,” she says. “It’s been my lifeline.”

Couch surfing

Homelessness isn’t just about people sleeping rough. The Australian Bureau of Statistics says a person is homeless if “their current living arrangement is in a dwelling that is inadequate, has no tenure or does not allow them to have control of and access to space for social relations”. That definition encompasses primary homelessness (people on the streets), secondary homelessness (moving from one temporary shelter to another or “couch surfing”) and tertiary homelessness (living in substandard long-term accommodation, such as boarding houses or caravan parks).

Research into a growing crisis among ageing baby boomer women, especially in regional Australia, has identified the problem as the “sleeping giant” of our society. Statistics gathered by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show the number of women aged 55 and over using homelessness services increased by 52 per cent from 2011 to 2016, when 11,949 older women sought its help.

Low superannuation, divorce and domestic violence coupled with high house prices and rents are among the key issues, along with a chronic lack of affordable housing. Advocacy groups say the federal government’s funding cuts to the homeless will only make the problem worse. Yet these statistics may provide only an indication of the problem’s real size. These are women who actively sought help from a homeless support service. Many don’t seek help unless they have to. And homeless older women are “likely to be statistically invisible” because they aren’t readily countable, according to a report commissioned by the Mercy Foundation, which advocates for affordable housing.

The hidden homeless

“The 2011 census found that on any given night, 105,000 Australians are homeless,” says Catherine Yeomans, Mission Australia’s CEO, “but only 6 per cent of that number refers to people sleeping rough. People over the age of 55 accounted for 15,000 of that number. The figure includes what we call the ‘hidden homeless’. People who are sleeping in their cars, in caravan parks or tents, or who are moving around among friends or family – it’s perceived as being safer than being on the streets and this is how many older women especially experience homelessness. Women over 55 are homelessness’ fastest growing cohort.” Why is this? “Homelessness – and housing stress – can occur because a relationship breaks down or there’s a bereavement,” says the Mercy Foundation’s CEO, Felicity Reynolds. “Job loss, poor health and retirement are factors, too. An older woman may have spent years out of the workforce raising her family, has little or no access to superannuation and then can struggle to find employment so she can continue to either pay her mortgage, rent or her bills. It can happen to almost anyone – and it can happen quickly.”

Regional towns, with lower job prospects and limited rental stock, are hard hit. Despite being an A-lister’s paradise, Byron Bay has the highest number of rough sleepers in NSW outside of Sydney. The 2006 census stated that while inner Sydney had 76 people sleeping rough on census night, Byron Bay had 93. In the decade since, that has spiralled upwards.

Anne Goslett, who runs SHIFT’s program in Byron Bay, says she knows of women who are sleeping in tents on sand dunes because there is limited crisis accommodation in the area.

The need for a different way to help women prompted Anne, a softly spoken clinical psychotherapist with more than 30 years’ experience in the homeless sector, to launch SHIFT in