For Homelessness Week 2026, Footprints Community’s Housing Older Women’s Support Service (HOWSS) welcomed community members, partners, researchers and supporters to In/Visible, an exhibition exploring the experiences of older women facing housing insecurity and homelessness.
Funded by Footprints Community and delivered in partnership with QUT Design Lab and the QUT Centre for Justice, In/Visible brought together research, creative practice and lived experience to amplify women’s voices, build public understanding and encourage conversations about housing insecurity and the services that help women rebuild stability.
Through interviews and creative workshops, older women who participate in the HOWSS Coffee Catch-up Program were invited to share their deeply personal experiences of housing insecurity later in life.
For some, housing insecurity was shaped by years of financial precarity, insecure renting, caring responsibilities and limited savings. For others, a sudden housing crisis followed relationship breakdown, domestic and family violence, illness or job loss.
Across these different experiences, the women spoke about the emotional toll of uncertainty, the challenges of navigating complex systems and the importance of being treated with dignity, respect and care.
Their experiences were transformed into powerful creative works including poetry, photography, drawings, collage and song. The artworks captured the realities of sleeping in cars, moving between temporary accommodation and informal living arrangements, and the uncertainty of not knowing where home might be next.
But In/Visible was about more than housing insecurity. Through the artwork, personal stories and shared conversations, the exhibition explored each woman’s housing journey while celebrating her resilience, strength and dignity.
At three exhibition events in Brisbane, Noosa and Mackay, a woman whose lived experience helped inspire the exhibition shared her story as a guest speaker. Her courage, alongside the creativity and generosity of the women who contributed to the project, created powerful moments of reflection and connection for those who attended.
Together, these voices highlighted the urgent need for safe, secure and affordable housing for older women across Queensland, while reminding us that behind every statistic is a person, a story and a life shaped by circumstances that can affect any of us.
The voices and expertise of people with lived and living experience and their wisdom, shapes and informs Footprints’ service delivery as an organisation.
The stories shared through In/Visible continue beyond the exhibition.
Explore the artwork and learn more about the project at the QUT Housing Older Women website:
https://research.qut.edu.au/housingolderwomen
Please share the project with colleagues, friends and anyone who might benefit from understanding more about the experiences of older women facing housing insecurity.
