Vulnerable women have a problem with how to go on living life in some meaningful way whilst being homeless or at risk of homelessness. "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." So let's make it meaningful.
Where is the rigorous gender based research women need, both to identify gender specific needs and to determine how well they are being met?
We need to understand the exact nature of the problem, before we can start to look at solutions. But once we do understand the problem, we realise that solutions may not be as simple as they looked at first sight.
Do we care that Australia has turned single women of all ages, and mothers with children, into refugees in their own land; living, hidden from public view, in insecure, unsuitable, overcrowded and often unsafe places.
We all see the world through our tiny gilded opera glasses. We each have a minute field of vision on which to base our actions, our attitudes and our beliefs about the world in which we live.
This IS a crisis. It is a national emergency, when 200,000 households are on the public housing waiting list. 200,000 households are either already homeless, or unable to afford both rent and adequate food and utilities.¹
I wanted out of a twenty five year very difficult and mostly unhappy marriage. And so began a nomadic life.
We are ordinary Australian women forced out of our homes by rapidly inflating house prices.
We have allowed “the lucky country” to turn into “the cruel country” on our watch!
If you have experienced value from what I am doing, please consider making a donation. I do have an Australian pension to live on, but as we all know, this is no longer enough to pay rent, which means I am always living in transient accommodation. Every little bit counts.
