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Marginality amidst plenty: Pathways into homelessness for older Australians
Author(s) -
Morris Alan,
Judd Bruce,
Kavanagh Kay
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.2005.tb00969.x
Subject(s) - eviction , accommodation , restructuring , spouse , face (sociological concept) , government (linguistics) , project commissioning , sociology , older people , notice , demographic economics , business , publishing , political science , economics , gerontology , psychology , law , finance , medicine , social science , linguistics , philosophy , neuroscience , anthropology
In this paper, drawing on in‐depth interviews, we illustrate that despite the significant overall increase in the wealth of older Australians over the last two decades, a sizeable proportion of older Australians (65 and over) are in a vulnerable accommodation situation and many face the possibility of finding themselves homeless. This is especially so for those older Australians who are dependent on government for their income and are living in private rented accommodation. We show that the changing nature of the housing market means that often our informants were not able to find affordable, adequate and secure accommodation. The death of a spouse, rent increases and eviction are common precipitators of a slide into a situation of imminent homelessness. The restructuring of the welfare state and the virtual freeze on the building of social housing means that older private renters who face eviction often have nowhere to turn. Besides not being able to rely on the market or government, many have minimal or no family and social networks.