GLOBAL HEALTH AGING

“In Australia, on any given night, 1 in 200 people are homeless.” One fifth of all people who are older than 55 years of age are homeless; many more live in unsecured housing.

What is homelessness and what may cause someone to become homeless? A person is considered homeless when he or she does not have a conventional home and lives on the streets or in a park. Someone may be at risk of homelessness when living in unsecured housing. There are certain reasons that can cause homelessness which may include lack of social bonding and support from family or friends. What if you are in a crisis and cannot receive help from the closest people in your life—your family and friends? What would you do? You may think it can never happen to you but that may not be the case. Homelessness can happen to anybody. Young, old, women, and men.

Today, Australia and most other developed nations face more issues with divorces, family breakdown, and higher rent for affordable housing. Due to the growing aging population, homelessness will become a rising issue because of the lack of money to build affordable housing or lack of space for seniors in existing homeless shelters.

ABC Australia reports that Australian older women outnumber the men in homeless shelters. In fact, 9% of single women over the age of 45 are in crisis accommodation and that number will continue to rise. The woman being interviewed by ABC makes it clear that it can happen to anybody. She notes that “there is a fine line between having a roof over your head and having nothing.” Imagine if you, from one day to another, lost everything and couldn’t turn to anyone.

The report “Homelessness and older Australians: Scoping the Issues” reports that there are systems in place in Australia that give the homeless population access to certain services. However, the homeless believe that their complex needs are not addressed. In addition, they have difficulties to access those services and obtain the needed information because the service system in itself is too complex. There needs to be an increased collaboration and integration of existing service departments.

Australia must think of sustainable ideas and strategies to increase and invest in the affordable housing stock. The government, non-governmental organizations and service providers also need to step up and create strategies to reduce the bureaucracy and make easier access to the services the homeless population needs easier.

Martina Lesperance is a Health Educator and Screening Technician in El Paso, Texas.