Something truly remarkable happened in the USA about three months ago. It was incredible and it was one of the most positive illustrations of the power of community to ever come out of the social-safety-net basket case that is the United States. It is a pity that it got no coverage in Australia.
Often, women are described as the hidden homeless, staying with friends or relatives, in cars or sheltering in women’s refuges.
On April 14, 2014, the Mercy Foundation launched the findings of a report, they commissioned from University of Queensland's Dr Maree Petersen and Dr Cameron Parsell, which investigated older women’s homelessness and effective pathways out of homelessness for this group.
Homelessness is caused by poverty. And no, homelessness is not caused by mental illness, choice, drug addiction, alcoholism, unemployment, brain injury, intellectual disability, physical disability, illness or family breakdown. However, these things can all create poverty and poverty can lead to homelessness.
