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Struggling to find a rental property and living in crisis accommodation, former Gold Coast mayoral candidate Virginia Freebody is not living the life she thought she would be at the age of 62.
After her husband died in December last year she said she was not thinking straight and forgot to check her rental property's lease renewal date.
Ms Freebody, who owns a dry cleaning business on the Gold Coast, said she also owed money to the landlord for water usage.
"I was told to get out of the house, which I did, and I'm now homeless," she said.
Virginia Freebody's husband passed away in December 2023. (Supplied: Facebook)
Ms Freebody ran as a mayoral candidate in this year's Gold Coast City Council elections and received just over two per cent of the total votes.
When she was evicted in May, Ms Freebody thought she would be staying in crisis accommodation with her 19-year-old daughter for two weeks at most.
It has now been more than 16 weeks, with no end in sight.
She said she has been left shocked by the little support that she has been offered.
"There is no such thing as a stereotypical homeless person. There are all sorts. And I'm fighting every day to get out of this situation," Ms Freebody said.
"My family are basically all dead. It comes down to that sometimes. Life circumstances really whack it in your face."
Ms Freebody has unsuccessfully tried to fight her rental eviction in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
She said she was now paying back the water bill in instalments.
Ms Freebody said it has been difficult to secure a new rental property because of how high the rents are on the Gold Coast, even with the combined income between her and her daughter.
A growing issue
Vicky Rose says the number of people needing support at the Nerang Neighbourhood Centre is increasing. (ABC Gold Coast: Julia Andre)
Nerang Neighbourhood Centre general manager Vicky Rose spends her weeks providing community services to vulnerable people.
She said it can take just one incident to set a person on the road to becoming homeless, especially in the current economic climate.
Ms Rose said, like in Ms Freebody's case, most homeless people have lived typical lives — raising families and working — before experiencing a "major disruption" such as a marriage breakdown or a partner's death.
Combined with a lack of savings, these events can then lead to homelessness, Ms Rose said.
"It can be a car blows a tyre on the same week the power bill is due and ultimately you have to choose what to pay," Ms Rose said.
"You have to pay something and then you just don't have money for the rent, and it ends up snowballing."
Ms Rose said there is a waitlist for those hoping to get help from Queensland's Housing Older Women's Support Service, leaving many vulnerable.
"It's dangerous for a single woman, let alone an older woman, to be staying in a car at a public park," she said.
"I can't fathom how we've got a society where this can happen."
Homeless women on the rise
The latest data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed around 27,300 older clients received support from specialist homelessness services in 2022-23.
Of those, 53 per cent — or 14,426 people — were females aged between 55 and 64.
The Housing Older Women's service wants to turn those statistics around and hopes that a series of seminars, workshops and networking throughout south-east Queensland will help achieve that goal.
Sharon Steele-Davies, 74, attended a seminar on the Gold Coast.
She said her first-floor apartment was becoming less suitable as she aged but that the thought of looking for a new home was daunting.
"I'm terrified, like a rabbit in the headlights," she said.
"I haven't even looked because I know the prices that are out there, and I have no idea where I would go.
"What I'm really interested in is a community of pods that are set up with a communal area so that you've got your own separate space, but you have your common areas where you can gather and keep an eye on one another."
Sharon Steele-Davies says the thought of looking for a new home is daunting. (ABC Gold Coast: Emma Hannigan)
Rent increases
Rental stress is a growing issue in Queensland.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the state had the largest population growth in the past year.
On the Gold Coast, the average rent is now $857 a week, an increase of 34 per cent over the past three years.
Antonia Mercorella, from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, said although real estate agents have to inform landlords of increases in the value of their homes, owners do not have to raise their rents in line with that.
"Ultimately that decision to charge that market rent rests entirely with the property owner," she said.
"And certainly they shouldn't be forced into a decision they're not comfortable with."