Single older women are struggling to find safe, affordable housing in regional Victoria as the housing crisis worsens.
The Nationals’ Member for Northern Victoria Gaelle Broad told Parliament she was concerned that single older women are falling through the cracks of the system and literally retiring into poverty.
“I was contacted by a local resident, a 72-year-old woman, who lost her husband last year. Soon after this she needed surgery which impacted her ability to manage her usual daily tasks.
“Previously she had done all her own housework and gardening but now finds it difficult and says her current unit is too large for her to manage. She pays $360 per week in rent and is looking to downsize to a smaller unit and is on a single pension of $1300 per fortnight. Private rent costs up to $500 per week for a simple two-bedroom unit in Bendigo, and she simply cannot afford it.
“She is frustrated and concerned that landlords are selling their rentals due to increased government taxes and regulations. There are fewer properties available to rent, and older single women are among those missing out on a home.”
Ms Broad also met with the Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) which is concerned about the shortage of affordable housing for older Victorians.
Ms Broad told Parliament a group of women in Castlemaine had taken matters into their own hands in a bid to secure safe, affordable housing.
The Older Women in Cohousing Inc (WINC) group has secured a council permit to construct a sustainable joint housing project on a five-acre property designed to offer ‘safety, community and sustainability for an age demographic which is fast becoming the most at risk of homelessness’.
Meanwhile, Women’s Housing Limited, a statewide not-for-profit organisation that provides low-cost housing to women at risk of homelessness, reports that women and children make up an increasingly large percentage of those in need of affordable housing. Those most at risk include women over 55 and women forced to leave their home because of family violence.
“The Grattan Institute recently released a report that found most retirees, particularly older women, live in poverty, including more than three in four single women,” Ms Broad said.
The Victorian Government’s own Homes Victoria Rental Report showed the percentage of affordable housing of all types available in Bendigo has dropped from 63.2 per cent in September 2014 to just 24.7 per cent in September 2024. “That is a massive change in the 10 years that Labor has been in power in this state, and it’s the most vulnerable in our community who are paying the price,” Ms Broad said.
Media Contact: Linda Barrow 0484 303 764 linda.barrow@parliament.vic.gov.au
