Since Q Shelter convened the first forum in December 2019, over 160 people and organisations have been engaged in the issue of housing for older women in Queensland.
Momentum is building as more and more women over the age 45+yrs grapple with access to affordable, secure and amenable housing. Many are not in a position to own their own home, other housing options such as public, community and other social housing may not be accessible either. Over several decades a range of systems have failed to support women who are now in their 50’s or older.
The impact of housing insecurity resulting from being in unpaid carer roles with children and or unwell, aging relatives, gender pay inequity, lack of superannuation arising from irregular and low paid work, limited access to child support (at least until 1988 when it became mandatory), property settlements that did not enable the purchase of a new home, no or limited access to financial products for single women, and the high cost of private rental as the most accessible housing option add up to over 405,000 women across Australia aging with no secure housing options.
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The HOW Movement has been supported by QShelter to give a voice to older women with a lived experience of housing insecurity.  Women have connected offering their experiences of insecure housing, and homelessness with a willingness to join with others to find solutions. There is now over a decade of research related to this significant social concern.
So far the HOW Movement has…
- invited in speakers to share research regarding the needs of older women no just in Qld but across Australia
- invited experts in housing development to help in considering a range of different housing design, finance and management solutions
- connected with small independent developers some of who have created responses from the needs they have experienced and observed for innovation in creating homes offering different options to meet a range of needs
- participated in Q Shelter’s learning series on town planning and developed a much clearer picture of what helps and hinders new innovation in housing
- conducted online forums with a range of speakers and participated in national level seminars, panels and other events considering the many dimensions of creating new housing options that will work best for older women aging in place and connected to community
- prepared and delivered a HOW M devised platform to every candidate in the State election in October
- made representation to other peak bodies for support
- prepared funding applications and developed new partnerships
Why HOW might be of interest:
- You might be experiencing housing insecurity now or know others who are likely to be in the not too distant future. If not you it might be a concern for a friend; family member or acquaintance.
- You might be a worker in the human services sector and know this situation exists for some of those with whom you work.
- You might have expertise in the area of advocacy, housing supply related expertise in areas such as design, finance, town planning, financial modelling for shared equity arrangement, legal and contractual matters, land acquisition, building and development experience.
If you have these or another interest in finding and making real homes for and with older women and would like to connect we are asking you to register to participate firstly in the Coordinating Forum. At some point one of the working groups might be of interest and you may wish to offer your experience there as well.
How to connect:
- See what the group is up to on their website
- The HOW Movement also has a Facebook page. CLICK HERE to follow and share
