Older Women Lost in housing
Equitable access to affordable, secure safe & appropriate housing.
Argyle is proud to have supported O.W.L’s (Older Women Lost in housing) with its event on Friday 20 October 2017. Our CEO Wendy Middleton is very supportive of Argyle’s involvement with O.W.L’s and was happy to see a number of our Argyle Team had volunteered their time to be at the event to act as facilitators during the workshop and provide administrative support for the event.
Penny Leemhuis established OWL’s in 2015 as a not for profit advocacy effort with its focus on improving the health and wellbeing of women aged 45 and over who are or are at risk of homelessness, which research has described as the “hidden, underrepresented and the new face of homelessness” (Sharam, 2011; McFerran, 2010; Petersen, 2015; ACT Shelter, 2014). Penny’s realization that she needed to be an advocate for single women aged 45 and above was from the experience of a 12-year housing struggle where she battled continuously with insecure accommodation in Victoria, the ACT, and New South Wales before finding an affordable rental in Queanbeyan.
The purpose of O.W.L’s is to raise awareness of the consequences and impact of the systemic and gender inequities in the housing sector for older women and promote social inclusion and women’s equality. OWL’s aim is to achieve sustainable housing solutions through a collaborative network of social service and housing organisations, researchers, policymakers, the private sector and community financial institutions, philanthropic and women’s organisations. Collaboration will also identify key areas for preventative programs and information sharing sources.
