More often, the women coming to us for support are older. Many are in their late 50s, 60s, and beyond. They are women who have spent their lives caring for others, contributing to their communities, and working hard. These are women who should be experiencing stability and connection and dignity in their later years, but instead they are navigating homelessness.
Their lives have been undone not by a single event, but by a lifetime of inequality, compounded by the strain of a housing market that no longer has space for them.
In the past five years, we have seen a 33% increase in women over 55 seeking our services. This mirrors what frontline workers like us observe each day: More older women reaching out requiring complex, sustained support to regain stability. Launch Housing operates one of only a small number of women’s-only crisis accommodation residences in Melbourne, with just fifteen beds available. At the time of writing, three women aged over sixty are waiting for a room. The pressures they face, such as unaffordable rents, family violence, elder abuse, relationship breakdowns, chronic illness, and financial insecurity have been deepening, especially since COVID. The housing system, which is already stretched to its limits, is struggling to keep up.
For many of the women we meet, the risk begins years before homelessness occurs. They have earned less than men across their lifetimes, often due to time away from paid work to raise kids or care for relatives. Their work has frequently been casual, underpaid, or part-time, leaving them with very little superannuation. Rising rents across Victoria have made this reality even harsher. Increasingly, older women living on the Age and Disability Support pensions spend half their income trying to keep a roof over their heads. When the rent rises, illness sets in, a partner dies, or when family violence escalates at home, they have nowhere to go.
Over the past year, we have supported many women whose housing has unraveled following long-term financial dependence within relationships, the breakdown of critical family supports, or the challenges of navigating life in Australia with limited English.
Others have escaped family violence or have been left isolated after bereavement and interstate relocation, only to find that a pension cannot keep pace with rising rents. We see women who have spent years moving between unstable or unsafe living situations after relationship breakdowns cut their housing and family connections. We support First Nations women whose experiences of violence, housing loss, and dislocation continue to ripple through their families. These women all carry the burden of a system that has failed to protect them long before they reach our doors.
It’s very likely that this issue is one that you do not see when you go about your day. That’s because homelessness among older women is somewhat invisible, or hidden . Most are not on the street, they are sleeping in cars, staying with friends or family, using up every favour they have, or remaining in violent or unsafe homes because the alternative feels even more frightening. Many spend weeks calling support lines, waiting on hold with no one to guide them.
Older women often arrive at our service visibly overwhelmed, holding pieces of paper covered in phone numbers telling us this is the first time in their lives they have ever reached out for help. Each day, we witness the profound difference that safe, permanent, and affordable housing can make. When a woman receives the keys to her own front door, we see the weight she has carried begin to lift. Her health starts to stabilise, sleepless nights ease, and the threads of connection with family, friends, and community slowly begin to re-form. What resonates most though, is the privilege of watching her rediscover a sense of independence, often for the first time in years. In that moment, housing becomes more than shelter; it becomes the foundation on which she can rebuild her life.
Everyone deserves a safety net. This winter, you can be hers. Donate now to help older women find safety and stability.
