Tonight I acknowledge Homes for Older Women [HOW] in the Blue Mountains. It is a not-for-profit program run by the Older Women's Network NSW in the Blue Mountains. The program connects women aged 55 years and older in the Blue Mountains with compassionate home owners who are offering accommodation at an affordable price. That includes granny flats, houses, units or spare bedrooms, and the accommodation can be furnished or unfurnished. Why HOW? It is well established that older women are finding it increasingly difficult to access affordable housing in the Blue Mountains, particularly in the private rental market. An extra layer of hardship has been added with the cost-of-living and rental affordability crises. As women often have significantly lower superannuation and lower savings than men, they are at greater risk of falling into poverty when they age. Older women also have a higher likelihood of housing insecurity and homelessness due to factors including relationship separation, death of a partner and retirement.

The Older Women's Network in the Blue Mountains decided to come up with a local solution to deal with the problem of housing insecurity. It is a group of supportive older women committed to improving the wellbeing of their members and the wider community. Volunteers designed the Homes for Older Women program as an innovative local solution to the complex national housing crisis. HOW is made possible by the generous contribution of individuals, local businesses, organisations and donors. I encourage everyone to have a look at this innovative program. The harsh reality is that some older women, including those on full-time incomes, are forced to move out of rental accommodation when rents increase or cost-of-living pressure becomes too much. Others are couch surfing with family and friends or living in precarious situations.

In May this year I was fortunate to attend the launch of this fantastic program in Wentworth Falls. I acknowledge the people behind this fabulous project who are doing fantastic things on a practical level: Bronwen Johnston; Maree Cairns, who is the chair of the Blue Mountains Women's Health and Resource Centre; Sue Wildman, who came along to talk about her own lived experience of homelessness; and Julie Nance, who is the HOW program manager in the Blue Mountains. We also heard from Debi, who shared some of her personal experiences of securing accommodation through the HOW program. With Yumi Lee of the Older Women's Network and the HOW program organisers, I look forward to introducing them to the Minister for Housing, and Minister for Homelessness, the Hon. Rose Jackson, to talk about how we might roll out a similar project, with government support, into other communities.

I take my hat off to these women who recognised that governments are not always the solution and that they cannot always find all the answers to this problem and decided that they would reach out to our community themselves. They have posters all over the Blue Mountains. They meet with a range of organisations and our local councillors, as well as my Federal colleague Susan Templeman, the member for Macquarie, and me to ask us to assist in the process of educating the community and encouraging people to stop and think about how they can help, whether they have a granny flat or a room in their homes to offer, or whether they are prepared to work with council and set up a tiny home, or invest in housing and offer that up as a solution. I was proud to be there and talk about what our Government is doing in this space to deal with the housing crisis. I congratulate the Older Women's Network and the HOW program initiative.