Older women are one of the fastest-growing cohorts facing housing precarity and homelessness in Australia and this situation is being worsened by climate change. A UTS Chancellor's Research Fellow in the UTS Faculty of Law, Dr Lisa Ewenson studies the socioeconomic life events that lead women to experience housing precarity and homelessness as compounded by the uneven impacts of climate change.
Preventing housing precarity for older women
In Australia, Lisa said that cheaper housing is more likely to be in flood zones and bushfire zones and it is less likely to have adequate insulation or cooling mechanisms.
Historically, homelessness research focused on men and looked at highly visible patterns of rough sleeping.
“Within the context of Australia's huge and profound overarching housing crisis, we now know that many older women face housing insecurity, and part of the reason for this is that they have undertaken decades of paid and unpaid caring work,” Lisa explained, adding that women perform most of the caring work.
“Caring holds our society together, and this vital work has contributed towards women’s relative poverty when edging towards the age of retirement and beyond.”
Within the context of Australia's huge and profound overarching housing crisis, we now know that many older women face housing insecurity, and part of the reason for this is that they have undertaken decades of paid and unpaid caring work.
Working with community collaborators across New South Wales and Queensland, two of the most disaster-impacted jurisdictions in the nation, Lisa is seeking to learn from older women who have experienced housing precarity as worsened by climate change.
“If we listen to and learn from their experiences, we can help stop future generations of women from experiencing such unjust circumstances,” she said.
Housing solutions for older women
Through conducting life-course history interviews with older women who have experienced housing precarity and homelessness, Lisa’s research will also explore potential solutions for more affordable and sustainable housing.
“While we have some limited statistics about the numbers of older women facing housing precarity, the detailed circumstances which have led to them experiencing such challenging situations are not always broadly understood by policymakers or lawmakers,” Lisa said.
By creating opportunities for older women to shape this discussion and to contribute to the urgently required policy reforms, Lisa believes that the collective power of their life stories can drive substantial change.
Housing and democracy
Within her research, there's also a focus on how housing insecurity for older women potentially undermines their democratic participation within our society which is now materially impacted by climate change.
“The substantive ability to vote is one metric of social democracy that I will consider, amongst other components of democratic participation.”
What’s next?
- Read Lisa’s article in the Alternative Law Journal.
- Discover Lisa’s research.