The housing crisis is pushing increasing numbers of single and older women in Gippsland into unstable living situations, with experts warning the problem is largely invisible but rapidly worsening.
The Grattan Institute’s latest analysis reveals alarming statistics, with nearly 80 percent of single retired women who rent privately living in poverty. This situation is particularly acute in Gippsland, with private rentals approaching non-existent levels.
But it’s not just older women who are being affected.
Foster woman Daria Bryers has moved several times in the last five years. She says it’s an incredibly difficult local rental market. “As a single mum I’ve had to secure rentals by offering to pay above the asking price, using all my savings to pay six months rent in advance, or having a male guarantor go on my lease.
“It breaks my heart seeing other people, single mums in particular, struggling to find secure housing for their kids,” she continued.
Bryers has some suggestions for policy makers at all levels. She suggests providing tax breaks and incentives for landlords to provide rentals rather than holiday accommodation, changing council planning rules to allow for tiny homes or granny flats to be built for long-term rentals, and setting up communal housing such as tiny home villages for older women.
She’s also urging local and state governments to make housing a priority when considering the proposed offshore windfarm developments. Bryers says this might include making it a condition of building the infrastructure that housing is also constructed to accommodate the influx of workers. This could then be designated rental accommodation after works are completed.
The pressure on local services is also evident, with Manna Gum Community House’s emergency relief workers estimating that there has been at least a 50% increase in demand for their services in the last two years, with food and petrol vouchers being the main requests.
Manna Gum points to short and long term housing affordability and availability, family violence, financial stress due to rising costs of living, mental health, lack of income security, financial support and superannuation, and a lack of employment as the main factors exacerbating the crisis. Cara Schultz
