Outreach through Offerings: Supporting The Forgotten Women project

Each month St. John’s Cathedral gives a helping hand to a good cause, in Brisbane, or in Australia or overseas. The program aims to widen the scope of our concerns, of our prayers and of our giving, by becoming involved with projects to relieve human need.

This month the focus is on: The Forgotten Women - help her home. 

Women experiencing homelessness are significantly less visible and identifiable than their male counterparts. Often described as the 'hidden homeless' vulnerable older women are often reluctant to identify as living in poverty or homeless, and are more likely to be staying with friends, living in a car or physically 'hiding' on the streets.

In Queensland, there are more than 40,000 women over the age of 55 who are suffering financial hardship driven by rising living costs, lack of employment, limited or no superannuation, and a lack of affordable housing options. Alarmingly, recent forecasts predict that this figure is set to double by 2036. Already, almost 700 women aged over 55 years are homeless in the Greater Brisbane area.

The Forgotten Women is a unique, grassroots housing initiative for homeless women over 55. This not-for-profit project mission is to put a roof over the heads of as many of these vulnerable women as possible. Through the acquisition of suitable properties, The Forgotten Women project will ensure these women have access to secure, safe and affordable housing options that enable them to age in place with dignity and security. Ageing in place is important. As the cost of housing rises, so too does the physical distance between where women live, and where there are more affordable housing options. Removing women from places in which they have established social and support networks really isolates them.

The project is being delivered by Mangrove Housing, a Tier 2, not-for-profit, community housing provider which has been delivering housing solutions to vulnerable people since its establishment in 1993. It buys, builds, renovates and refurbishes land and property in the areas these women have lived the greater part of their lives, ensuring no relocation away from support networks is needed. It aims to offer properties which are fit for purpose and affordable in the long-term. The promise that rent will never exceed 30% of total income regardless of marketplace rates has the potential to prevent early entry into the aged care system.

The causes which threaten so many women over 55 with homelessness are varied. Typically, women in this age group are likely to have 40% less superannuation than their male counterparts for a significant number of reasons - equal opportunity wasn’t enacted until 1980’s, superannuation wasn’t compulsory until 1992, and women from these years have gaps in their workforce participation (and therefore superannuation) to raise children. Many are separated or widowed. A majority of them have limited or no prior experience of having to seek assistance and hence lack an understanding of the services available to them.

Every dollar raised by this project is used for the sole purpose of providing homes for these Forgotten Women within the Greater Brisbane area. Every gift, in-kind donation, every product or service is for the sole benefit of providing fit-for purpose homes for Forgotten Women.

You can contribute towards this project, which will directly benefit women at risk of homelessness in the Greater Brisbane area, by using electronic banking to make a bank transfer to: 

BSB 034 003  Account No: 385378

Please narrate your deposit "Outreach 08" and also email outreach@stjohnscathedral.com.au to inform us of your deposit, including the amount. Please provide your postal/email details if wanting a receipt.

For other forms of payment, please phone the cathedral office on (07) 3835 2222 during normal business hours Monday-Friday. 

Cheques should be made payable to Forgotten Women. 

Receipts will be provided after the August appeal is completed, usually in September. Thank you.