In this series of stories and personal portraits about local people in Canberra, we meet a young woman whose name and age remain private to protect her.
Meeting her was tough for me. She was living on the streets with no shelter. She told me she had left Sydney because of domestic abuse and other difficulties, but she didn't go into detail, and I didn't push her. I could see signs of her struggle with drug dependency around her sleeping bag.
Statistics reveal that 14% (2.8 million) of Australians aged 18 and over have experienced sexual violence since they were 15. Shockingly, 1 in 9 women (11% or 1.1 million) have experienced sexual violence from a male partner since they were 15, and 1 in 20 women (4.9% or 489,000) have experienced sexual violence from a male friend or housemate.
In Canberra, 2407 people experienced homelessness for at least a month in the previous year, with 1082 people facing persistent homelessness. It's alarming that 11.5% of clients returned to homelessness after finding housing, and 1 in 4 people (686 out of 2781 clients) didn't have their housing needs met. The rate of homelessness for females rose to 42 per 10,000 in 2021. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are significantly overrepresented, making up 20.4% of all homeless people, despite being only 3.8% of the population.
Despite her tough situation, this young woman had a kind character. Even though most of her teeth were rotten, we connected with me. She didn't ask for money but enjoyed talking. After we talked, I bought her a hot chocolate. It's sad to see so many people left alone on our streets.
