Elderly homeless alert

By Lilly O’Gorman
AN 85-year-old woman forced to live in a boarding house with drug-affected young men is just one of many homeless elderly females in our community, according to one local social worker.
The social worker with a non-government organisation said homelessness among the elderly was all too common where she worked throughout Dandenong, Doveton and Hallam.
The person, who wished to remain anonymous, raised the issue at a Berwick forum, A Conversation on Ageing with Minster for Health and Ageing Mark Butler. “We have an 85-year-old woman stuck in a boarding house with young men with drug and alcohol issues because there is nowhere else for her to go,” she said.
“It is an extreme example, but an example of what we deal with everyday.”
A large proportion of the social worker’s clients were aged, but still living at home and faced many issues surrounding the cost of accommodation and health care.
“They are really struggling as a group.
“There is a lot of emphasis on people in facilities – what about people in the community?” she said.
“The cost of living, I would argue… should be added to the list of ageing issues.”
She referred to a list of issues outlined in the Federal Government’s final report from the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into aged care, Caring for Older Australians, released in August.
Mr Butler acknowledged that more needed to be done to address the lack of housing and high living costs for older Australians.
“What people really want and that they don’t have access to now is care in the home,” Mr Butler said.
Mr Butler said a “profound challenge” in the coming years would be ensuring people have a home, because housing stock in Australia wasn’t well equipped for what was needed.
He said people needed smaller homes that were age-friendly and an increasing incidence of late-in-life separations meant many couldn’t find affordable rental accommodation.
“The fastest growing group of homeless Australians is older women.”
La Trobe MP Laura Smyth said these housing demands weren’t being addressed in the City of Casey and the Shire of Cardinia.
“No developers are dedicated to providing a proportion of social housing,” she said.
“There needs to be more of a response to population changes.”
A spokesperson for the Deparment of Human Services (DHS) said the department was building 1600 houses across the Southern Metropolitan region.
“This financial year, we are planning major upgrades to 1800 houses and units, 350 of which are in the southern region,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson was unable to comment on the 85-year-old woman’s situation, but advised her to contact the DHS and raise her concerns.