Why establish a Taskforce?

Establishing a Taskforce to work towards housing security for older South Australian women was a 2022 election commitment to address older women being one of the fastest growing populations facing homelessness.

The Taskforce was officially launched in January 2023 and its work concluded on 7 September 2023 when the recommendation report was finalised.

The commitment to establish a Taskforce recognised that women aged 55 years and over are one of the fastest growing populations experiencing homelessness in Australia. Research suggests this may be an underestimation given the ‘hidden nature’ of older women’s homelessness. Older women are particularly vulnerable to housing insecurity due to a range of current and historical systemic factors, including, but not limited to:

  • Domestic and family violence and elder abuse;
  • Financial insecurity and disadvantage (lower lifetime incomes, less access to financial assets such as superannuation due to informal care responsibilities);
  • Relationship breakdown, illness or death of a spouse;
  • Social norms, gender and sexual identity, and age discrimination; and
  • Market forces such as housing affordability and availability.

A Taskforce was seen as the optimal way to bring together the range of lived experience, expertise, disciplines, networks and community required to best understand systemic factors contributing to housing insecurity, as well as proposals to address these challenges.

Image below: Members of the Housing Security for Older Women Taskforce at the official launch.

Taskforce membership

The Taskforce comprised of 21 members. Lived Experience Advocates from the community, with experience of housing insecurity and a passion for lived experience leadership, were central to the Taskforce. In addition to the 5 Lived Experience Advocates were 16 representatives from a range of sectors including health, academia, ageing, domestic and family violence, local government, housing and homelessness, and community services.

The Taskforce was chaired by Dr Alice Clark, Executive Director of Shelter SA, with secretariat support provided by the South Australian Housing Trust. With the exception of the Chair, all members were engaged on a voluntary basis.

Back row (from L-R): Kristal (SA Housing Authority – Taskforce Executive Officer), Sanjugta (Office for Women), Catherine (SA Housing Authority, non-Taskforce member), Emma (Australian Centre for Housing Research), Susan (Lived Experience Advocate), Paul (Planning and Land Use Services), Hon Katrine Hildyard MP (Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, non-Taskforce member), Justine (Lived Experience Advocate), Jen (Centacare Catholic Country SA), Hon Nat Cook MP (Minister for Human Services, non-Taskforce member), Sandra (Lived Experience Advocate), Kym (Lived Experience Advocate), Damian (Consumer and Business Services), Alice (Shelter SA – Taskforce Chair), Olive (Nunga Mi:Minar). Front row (from L-R): Kathy (Office for Ageing Well), Carmel (Health Translation SA), Jaynie (Lived Experience Advocate), Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC (Governor of South Australia, non-Taskforce member), Mary (South Australian Housing Trust Board, non-Taskforce member), Miranda (Council on the Ageing SA), Vesna (City of Salisbury), Katrina (Proud Kaurna Women, non-Taskforce member).

Image: Members of the Housing Security for Older Women Taskforce at the official launch.

Back row (from L-R): Kristal (SA Housing Authority – Taskforce Executive Officer), Sanjugta (Office for Women), Catherine (SA Housing Authority, non-Taskforce member), Emma (Australian Centre for Housing Research), Susan (Lived Experience Advocate), Paul (Planning and Land Use Services), Hon Katrine Hildyard MP (Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, non-Taskforce member), Justine (Lived Experience Advocate), Jen (Centacare Catholic Country SA), Hon Nat Cook MP (Minister for Human Services, non-Taskforce member), Sandra (Lived Experience Advocate), Kym (Lived Experience Advocate), Damian (Consumer and Business Services), Alice (Shelter SA – Taskforce Chair), Olive (Nunga Mi:Minar).  Front row (from L-R): Kathy (Office for Ageing Well), Carmel (Health Translation SA), Jaynie (Lived Experience Advocate), Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC (Governor of South Australia, non-Taskforce member), Mary (South Australian Housing Trust Board, non-Taskforce member), Miranda (Council on the Ageing SA), Vesna (City of Salisbury), Katrina (Proud Kaurna Women, non-Taskforce member).

Lived experience workshop

Image: Lived experience workshop

  • September/October 2022 – Setup: Set co-design expectations with government and non-government representatives, seek lived experience nominations for lived experience workshops  (read the Taskforce announcement)
  • October 2022- Lived experience nominations : Coordinate nominations and invitations to attend lived experience workshops.
  • November 2022- Lived Experience workshop 1 – Understand the role of the Taskforce, explore what housing insecurity means, identify challenges facing older women in relation to housing security (read the summary in the Recommendations Report - Annexure B page 86)
  • December 2022 - Lived Experience workshop 2 – Ideas for the future and expressions of interest to join the Taskforce (read the summary in the Recommendations Report - Annexure B page 86).
  • January 2023 – Kick-off:  Taskforce officially launched by Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, Governor of South Australia (read Her Excellency's speech, and the Taskforce Launch news).
  • February 2023 - Draft workplan: Determine the activities of the Taskforce to undertake over its duration.
  • March 2023 - Workplan initiated: Activities of the Taskforce, to identify ideas for exploration and approaches to source data for recommendations, commences.
  • April 2023 - Workplan in action: Focus on identifying ideas to be explored, content needing to be sourced, and gaps to be addressed.
  • May 2023 – Workplan in action:  Focus on sourcing content based on research  and developing community voice engagement materials.
  • June 2023 - Workplan in action: Commence community voice engagement via YourSAy to seek feedback on how the community feels about what has been identified and what else needs to be considered (read the summary in the Recommendations Report - Annexure C page 91).
  • July 2023 – Workplan in action: Consolidate outcomes of community engagement to incorporate into recommendations.
  • September 2023 – Workplan completed: Finalise recommendations to improve housing security for older South Australian women (read the Recommendation  Report - full report or Recommendations Report - summary provided to the Minister for Human Services on 7 September2023.

The outcomes of the Lived Experience Workshops held in November and December 2022, provided a central foundation for the Taskforce, providing:

  • Clarity as to what is meant by housing security.
  • A deeper understanding of the issues, challenges and barriers to achieving housing security.
  • An understanding of the importance of lived experience as part of decision-making.
  • A mechanism to identify and support Lived Experience Advocates to join the Taskforce.

The ideas presented in the lived experience workshops identified four key focus areas for the Taskforce to explore including: New supply Models and Land Use, Private Rental, Services, and Social Housing. These four focus areas remained with the Taskforce throughout its duration and the development of the Recommendation Report.

The South Australian Housing Trust and Housing Security for Older Women Taskforce thank the women who participated in the workshops for their generosity in sharing their stories, insights and ideas as to how we can work differently to improve housing security for older women.

In addition to the voices of lived experience, the Taskforce was guided by South Australia’s Plan for Ageing Well 2020-2025 (the Plan). The plan was informed by community consultation with 1,500 older people from diverse backgrounds and 400 people involved in co-creating the vision, priorities, and enablers for ageing well in South Australia.

Strategic Priority 1: "Home and community – There is no place like home" includes three key themes of action:

  1. Accessible supports that make existing homes more flexible to people’s changing needs and wants over time.
  2. Models and options to create homes that suit a greater diversity of needs and aspirations.
  3. Affordable and accessible homes.

“Lived experience leadership is powerful, it is a key lever for transformative systems change that benefits everyone.”   LELAN Model of Lived Experience Leadership

Central to the Taskforce was authentic co-design guided by lived experience.The South Australian Housing Trust thanks the Lived Experience Leadership and Advocacy Network (LELAN) for guiding our approach and discussions through the Model of Lived Experience Leadership.

As part of the lived experience workshops held in November and December 2022, the LELAN-facilitated discussion identified many reasons why it is so important to have the voice of lived experience guiding what we do, and being part of discussions and decision-making to improve housing security for older women. This included:

  • Consumer advocate – the more of our voices can be heard the better
  • Puts a face to an issue like housing insecurity – not stereotypical, many different women face insecurity
  • Informs decisions and is part of decisions that affect me or others like me
  • Provides insight into causes and needs, advocacy for solutions
  • Provides a practical voice – gives insight into how things might work when it's put into action (tests the theory)
  • Will give it (the Taskforce) teeth
  • Stand up for my mob

If you are interested in enabling lived experience or using your own lived experience for advocacy, we encourage you to check out LELAN’s website, www.lelan.org.au which provides a range of resources and promotion of events.