One woman shares her story of what homelessness is really like

There are a lot of misconceptions about homelessness in Australia, but with rising living costs and a lack of affordable housing, more people are at risk than ever before.

Middle of the night toilet trips are annoying at the best of times, but for Sarah*, 73, who found herself sleeping in her car after leaving a violent living situation, they had become highly unsafe and incredibly stressful.

"You can't charge your phone; you need to brush your teeth and wash your hair and suddenly there's no place for that. I [was going] to a shopping mall to brush my teeth and thinking, 'I hope nobody sees me'," she recalls.

"I have a very small little hatchback [so] I can't really lay down [and had] to squeeze my body up. Sleeping in my car was a terrible thing … my body was aching; it was so sore."

Sarah had spent her working years in a corporate job while she raised her son, looking forward to the relaxing years of retirement.

But at 72, she was told the Brisbane apartment she'd lived in for 10 years was being demolished to make way for luxury housing, and rising rents had taken a private rental out of her budget.

She moved into shared accommodation, but after several violent encounters with her older male housemate, she fled, unsure where to go. She spent a night in her hatchback in a church carpark, then a residential street, while feeling too ashamed to tell her son where she'd ended up.

"[Being] homeless was a shameful, shocking state to be in," she says.

"You're so confused and can't make a decision for yourself. I was shocked to think that I was in this state at 72, and I can see how quickly people go downhill."

She reached out to a number of services but struggled to find a bed, until the local police put her onto Mission Australia and a case worker called Fiona came to meet her at her local library where she was charging her phone.

"My mind was really upside down and I wasn't sure what I should be doing [but] Fiona was very persistent. She said she could see me straight away and could help," Sarah recalls.

Fiona arranged accommodation for Sarah that night and helped her apply for social housing so that Sarah had a safe new home by the end of the week.

"You need somebody to walk beside you; if you don't, you can quickly spiral totally out of control," Sarah says.

"When I got a reply saying [my application] had been accepted, my mind just started moving differently. My body just changed after that, I stopped taking painkillers quite quickly afterwards [and now] I feel comfortable mentally and physically."

Unfortunately, Sarah's story is far from unique, with demand for Mission Australia's homelessness and housing services increasing by 26 percent over the past three years.

"Homelessness is not just people sleeping on the streets," says Megan Boshell, Mission Australia Area Manager in Dubbo.

"Homelessness [refers] is anyone that doesn't have a stable, suitable, safe accommodation. It could be people sleeping in their cars, couch surfing, staying in a spare room or garage or moving from one short-term accommodation to another."

Boshell says cost of living pressures, gender inequality and a lack of affordable and social housing means there are a lot of Australian women who are now vulnerable to homelessness.

"There are people all across the country at the moment who are struggling for lots of different reasons and in lots of different ways, often for reasons far beyond their control," she says.

"I would hope that women in this situation [don't] feel ashamed – it's not something they've done, and there are so many women in similar situations. The biggest message is to reach out to a service like Mission and ask for help."

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*Name has been changed