Diana, a New Zealand-born former dairy farmer and solo mother, who has suffered the most unimaginable trauma over decades in her life. She, like many others, fled her family farm to escape domestic violence. For years, she experienced housing insecurity, moving in and out of transitional housing with her two children. In spite of being recently diagnosed with breast cancer and possibly sarcoma in her leg, Diana continues to battle for a new life. Simultaneously, she’s trying to navigate the stress of being episodically homeless.
Diana now rents a four-bedroom home in regional Victoria and pays $535 a week. She lives in this tiny space with her daughter, Emma, who is 30 years old. Even with their hard work and determination to obtain stable housing, the duo was met with denial after denial. Yet they only got one rental and put in applications on 122 total rentals before being accepted to any of the rentals.
Yet Diana’s fight with health issues has proven conquering in its own right. She has been 24 / 7 on a feeding tube because of eating complications from her past cancer. Reflecting on her past, Diana remarked,
“I was actually battling cancer at that stage as well. It had affected my stomach, so I was on a feeding tube practically 24/7. Living in the car, you’ve got to hook it up on something. I don’t know how we got through that.”
Her boundless optimism and resilience carries her through. The uncertainty of their situation deeply affects her peace of mind.
The issues that Diana and so many other women in this country experience are not unique or singular moments. More than 400,000 older women in Australia are estimated to be at risk of homelessness. Kate Colvin from the Council to Homeless Persons emphasized the accelerating crisis within this demographic.
“What our analysis reveals is that women and girls coming to homeless services who have already lost their home has increased 20 per cent in just the past three years,” Colvin noted.
The Little Green Houses project, a $3 million pilot initiative, aims to provide ownership opportunities for women facing similar challenges as Diana. The highly anticipated project will see the building of eight small, energy-efficient houses in regional New South Wales by Christmas. This new initiative offers real hope to the most vulnerable among us.
Mandy Richards, a spokesperson for the initiative, emphasized the importance of this project:
“The Little Green Houses project aims to provide affordable housing ownership to Australian women who are on low incomes and who are facing housing insecurity. So, these are women that are completely locked out of the housing market.”
Diana’s experience shows the urgent need for more equitable, accessible housing options. She remembered vividly that horror when they lost everything that had ever made their family feel safe and secure.
“We lost our lives. We lost our community, we lost our home, I lost my gardens, which I loved as well. We lost everything that we knew and that was secure to us,” she explained.
Once forced to live in a car while battling her health issues, Diana and her children found temporary refuge at a safe house in Melbourne for a year, thanks to St Vincent de Paul.
Inspired by her mother’s style, her daughter Emma now focuses all her energy into passionately making and selling stunning jewelry. Simultaneously, Diana runs her own ceramics business out of their garage. No matter how entrepreneurially they may try to cope, a cloud of financial distress still hangs heavily over their heads.
“The financial stress, struggling to find a place was impossible, absolutely impossible. It’s devastating and you feel so small like you’re not worthy of anything,” Diana shared.
Keeping a positive outlook Emma said when she considers the possibility of one day living in a permanent home, she imagines a much better future.
“I can picture like, oh, I can unpack those boxes that have been sitting there for years I can put things on the walls, I can customise my house, I can have a place to go and call my own,” Emma said.
For Diana, moving into her own home represents more than just physical security. It symbolizes reclaiming her life and dreams.
“Oh imagine, just imagine moving into my own home, my own garden, knowing that it’s safe, like it’s going to be mine, this is mine. No one can take it from me. It’s – it’s like a dream,” she shared.
The Little Green Houses project embodies a crucial step toward addressing the urgent housing crisis faced by vulnerable women like Diana. As Kate Colvin pointed out,
“This is an emergency situation, and we need rapid action. I feel terribly worried because I’ve been working on this issue for a long time – and I do see that it’s getting worse; and the housing crisis is biting higher and higher up the income scale.”
By targeting affordable housing ownership for those most in need, this initiative aims not only to provide shelter but to empower women by giving them an asset they can rely on.
