Watch Perception’s episode – Silver Splitters, exploring why older {couples} are calling it quits on Tuesday 25 June at 8:30pm on SBS or on
The romanticised picture of retirement typically depicts ‘gray nomads’ – adventurous retirees cruising the seas at will.
This time period may have utilized to me, however for a much more devastating purpose.
At retirement age, I discovered myself getting ready to homelessness.
Whereas others my age had been indulging in a nomadic way of life by alternative, I used to be one by circumstance.
After I was 58, my marriage ended.
Within the divorce settlement, promoting our household house was the one choice.
We owned our house however had simply taken out an enormous mortgage to fully renovate it.
Lyn says entry to inexpensive momentary lodging might help navigate single older girls in the course of the troublesome transition interval of divorce. Supply: Provided
The second all of it got here crashing down
I by no means thought we would separate simply 12 months after taking out the mortgage, leaving us with few proceeds from the home’s sale.
Regardless of being a full-time midwife with a gentle earnings, my age, intercourse and minimal superannuation meant securing a mortgage for an additional property was not possible.
It was then that I realised that divorce later in life can set off a devastating domino impact, pushing girls identical to me right into a determined wrestle for safe housing.
My ‘gray divorce’ expertise coincided with an ideal storm of things that created a housing disaster for me.
Out of the blue, I discovered myself a renter once more, competing with youthful candidates in a market with skyrocketing costs.
Determined to get again into the property market in 2008, I bear in mind the second I sat with a financial institution supervisor to see how a lot I may borrow.
His response shook me.
“You are a 58-year-old feminine. We can’t offer you a mortgage,” he stated.
I used to be working full-time at this stage, having solely taken day off in my profession to have my 4 youngsters, who had been adults now.
His response left me devastated. I bear in mind asking the financial institution supervisor a follow-up query.
“If I used to be my former husband sitting right here and asking you an identical query, asking you for a mortgage, would he get it?” I requested.
He checked out me straight within the eyes and stated: “Sure.”
Left with no different alternative
Unable to safe a mortgage or discover a rental, I had no alternative however to have a look at public housing.
I spoke to the Division of Housing for my native space, Wollongong, solely to be instructed there was a 10-year ready record for a single girl my age.
Ready for public housing was now out of the query.
For the subsequent two years, I house-sat, and lived with my youngsters in a granny flat-style lodging, however they too had been renting as they had been saving as much as purchase a home.
They grew to become priced out of the realm we had been residing in on the time and realised that the one means they may afford to purchase a home was to make the massive transfer out west — to Perth.
My life, my job, every little thing I knew was in Wollongong. Beginning a complete new life in Perth at my age and being depending on my youngsters was not one thing I used to be prepared to do.
Discovering hope on the eleventh hour
Proper once I was trying into being pressured to sleep in my automobile, I used to be lucky sufficient to seek out inexpensive group housing — a privately owned subsidised unit — which I’m nonetheless residing in right this moment.
I contemplate myself one of many fortunate ones.
Nevertheless it’s not misplaced on me that the present scenario represents a failure in our social security web.
We can’t enable devoted professionals like midwives, academics, nurses, important service employees and numerous others to be forged adrift after a lifetime of service.
It’s time to redefine what ‘golden years’ imply for older girls in Australia.
Safety, stability, and a secure roof over one’s head should not be a privilege reserved for the lucky few, who haven’t needed to face life as a single girl.
My hope for the longer term
I need to stay in a world the place each girl, no matter age or marital standing, can age with dignity and safety.
I need to benefit from the retirement I labored for over 50 years to safe.
I need to fulfil my love of cruising and journey, which was all the time in my future whereas I labored all these years.
I hope that in sharing my story, I am not simply seen as one other statistic or immediate for coverage change, however that it highlights the significance of guaranteeing older girls who’ve spent a long time contributing to society can discover safe housing.
It is about guaranteeing that the ‘gray nomads’ on our roads are really residing life to the fullest, not merely nomads as a result of they’ve nowhere else to go.