Australia: Gentrification leaves poor at risk of homelessness & imprisonment

Advocates, media and politicians only concerned about the women. Link here. Excerpt:

'Channel Nine's purchase of the 1930s mansion, which in its prime could house up to 120 people, was welcomed last year by St Kilda residents...
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At the time, the local council and state government worked with housing services in St Kilda to find new accommodation, mostly outside the area, for its remaining occupants, who were evicted in time for filming to commence.

But many of those tenancies were unsustainable and fell through, homelessness support workers say, and because of an acute lack of crisis accommodation across Melbourne, dozens were dispersed onto the streets.

This includes at least 32 women who have since been charged and imprisoned for offences lawyers and support workers say are directly related to their homelessness — an issue that affects all genders but which leaves women particularly vulnerable.
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"Sleeping rough is extremely unsafe for women so many use drugs to keep themselves awake at night, which provides them with a false sense of security."
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The most recent Annual Prisoner Statistical Profile, released by Corrections Victoria, shows the number of female prisoners in Victoria has doubled in the past 10 years to 507 (the state's male prison population has risen less dramatically during the period, up almost 70 per cent to 6,644).
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The report detailed the well-established links between homelessness and imprisonment — both prior to people being taken into custody and after release — with national research in 2012 finding 52 per cent of female prisoners had been "sleeping rough" or living in short-term or emergency accommodation in the month prior to being incarcerated.
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"The nature of women's offending also means many are in prison for such a short period that they won't qualify for support programs to help address the issues that led to their criminalisation ... they're also often released before they can be referred to appropriate housing, if it is available."'