Page 3959 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 September 2017

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Homelessness services are reporting a rise in clients who are elderly women, some resorting to sleeping in cars and couch surfing for shelter before seeking help.

Rising rental prices in areas previously more accessible for low-income groups and pensioners have locked out older women with low superannuation and savings …

In Canberra, 316 people aged 55 years or older sought help from homelessness services last year and 44 per cent in this group were women, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Of all homeless clients, 6.8 per cent were aged more than 55.

Within this age group, 79 clients were aged 65 or older.

At item 3 the motion “recognises that the ACT government is already taking practical steps to promote an inclusive and supportive community”, yet earlier this year, in July, an article stated:

Frontline staff, former detainees and government officials have come forward to blow the whistle on a series of disturbing incidents—

at Bimberi youth detention centre—

between 2011 and 2017.

Troubled children have allegedly been abused and humiliated by a small number of “bad apple” staff, several inside sources alleged.

Staff have themselves been threatened and attacked by volatile detainees, with occupational violence dismissed as part and parcel of their difficult job, sources added.

The motion, at item (3), “recognises that the ACT government is already taking practical steps to promote an inclusive and supportive community”, yet an article last year in the Canberra Times stated:

Foster carers say they feel abandoned by the ACT government as transitional arrangements during an overhaul of the foster-care system fall short.

At item (3), the motion “recognises that the ACT government is already taking practical steps to promote an inclusive and supportive community”, yet on 26 May this year, an article in the Canberra Times stated:

If you need more proof that Canberra’s shortage of affordable housing is crushing struggling families, look no further than 17-year-old Stephen.

That is a pseudonym. The article continues:


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