News
5 September, 2026
Launching hope for older women
It was a full house in Annesley's ballroom on Friday morning for the official launch of the Homes for Older Women (HOWS) initiative by the Southern Highlands branch of the Older Womens Network (SHOWN).
It was a full house in Annesley's ballroom on Friday morning for the official launch of the Homes for Older Women (HOWS) initiative by the Southern Highlands branch of the Older Womens Network (SHOWN).
The launch started with a Welcome to Country by Mel Wiya and speeches by one of the founders of the HOWS program in the Highlands Sue Hayward, Wingecarribee Shire Mayor, Jesse Fitzpatrick, and Federal Member for Whitlam Carol Berry.
State Member for Goulburn Wendy Tuckerman and Member for Wollondilly Judy Hannan were also in attendance, alongside Wingecarribee Shire councillors Sara Moylan and Rachel Russell.
Older Women's Network CEO Yumi Lee spoke of her experiences of seeing older women in distress through homelessness.
"Over the eight years that I have worked for the Older Women's Network, I have heard many horrific stories about how older women are trying to manage the housing crisis," Ms. Lee said.
"I have met a Navy veteran who told me she alternated between sleeping in Central station and paying for a few nights in a hostel in Sydney every fortnight. Another instance was a woman who told me sleeps on an intercity train every night, because she finds it safer than a park bench."
Ms Lee also emphasised that there are some 400,000 women over 45 who are at risk of homelessness in Australia.
"We also know that women over 55 are one of the fastest groups who are becoming homeless," Ms. Lee said.
"This is not simply because she has lost a partner or has less in superannuation or savings than the man who sat beside her at work (even though those statistics are unfortunately true) - these things leave her exposed - but they are not the cause. The cause is that there is nowhere for them to go, and we do not have enough public housing, as we have let the stock of this run down for decades.
"And we also have a taxation system where we have a house as an asset to accumulate rather than simply a place to live in.
"Housing is a human right, and it is outrageous that in a country as rich as Australia we have older people camouflaging their homelessness with a cannula in their arm in a hospital."
SHOWN has sought support from local organisations such as Rotary, the CWA and Probus as well as seed funding from organisations including The Mercy Foundation and Oak Tree in Moss Vale.
One of the founders of the program for the Southern Highlands, Kerry Chater, told the crowd that the program runs very much on a volunteer basis, but that they have managed to secure enough grant funding to be able to support a woman by the name of Caitlyn for three days a week for the next twelve months.
"This is mostly thanks to The Mercy Foundation, but Sue and I have also been flat out applying for grants – a lot of those are running at the moment, and we will continue to do that," Ms. Chater said.
"We ask for donations, we're meeting people and making contacts, and we've spoken to a number of groups already so that we can pass the message around about what we're trying to do.
"We're also recruiting volunteers to help Caitlyn because she can't do this on her own – we've got about a dozen so far, but we need more than that. "
SHOWN has echoed a similar housing program run by OWN in the Blue Mountains for just over two years.
"Over that time the Blue Mountains branch have housed over 86 older women, and we don't know exactly how many women we will be housing here as there are no statistics," SHOWN board member Sue Hayward told The Southern Wire.
"When we speak to places like Argyle Housing and the PopIn centre and places like that, we know that there are women who are in housing insecurity or who are homeless so for instance the women have been notified that their rent may be increasing by $100 or $150 a week just because of the pressures on housing rentals in the Highlands. And on a pension, they can't afford to pay that."
Ms. Chater also added that there is simply a lack of housing availability, too.
"A lease can end, (and this has happened to a few people we've talked to) and the owners either want to sell the property or take the property back," Ms. Chater said.
"The tenant then literally cannot find accomodation – so one, they can't afford to pay rates and two, they can't afford to find any accommodation in the area, so it's a huge problem."
For more information about the HOWS program, contact the Southern Highlands Older Women's Network via this email at how-sh@ownnsw.org.au, or contact Sue Hayward on 0439 550 976.
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