We Want Action
Zonta District 22’s HOWZing project that seeks to reduce homelessness in older women is ramping up its efforts to push politicians to find solutions.
In the run up to the Queensland Government State election on 31 October, the HOWZing Committee is calling Queensland Zonta clubs to put homelessness in older women front and centre for all candidates. Zonta District 22 has approved the campaign to write to all contesting candidates and to provide them with a series of questions.
Zonta Club of Brisbane’s Advocacy Chair Susan Davies, who is on the HOWZing committee with Glynnis Gartside, said this action was vital with over a quarter of a million older women set to become the unseen victims of the post-pandemic recession in Queensland. The number of older women at risk of homelessness is now at 282,601 (ABS 2018) and rising at an alarming rate.
In the media release for the Queensland State Election 2020 District Governor Bridget Mather urges all candidates to place the scourge of escalating homelessness among older women front and centre in their housing platform for the upcoming election.
District Governor Mather called for measures specifically tailored to helping the “Hidden Homeless” – an Information Call Centre, increased expenditure on social housing, and local and state government support for new innovative housing models.