Guanghui (Tony) Huang fled China in December 2014 for a better life in Australia. Months later he found himself completely isolated and living in a tiny room in an over-crowded share home. He was in poor health, with limited finances, no job, and no support.
“I was down and even thought I was lessened and forsaken,” recalls Tony, who suffers from depression.
Then Tony met Case Manager Amy Yuen from for-purpose organisation VMCH, and his life turned around.
October 16-22 is Anti-Poverty Week, aimed to increase society’s understanding of poverty and encouraging people to take action collectively to end it.
Amy supports 66 seniors who are on a low income and are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, through the Assistance with Care and Housing (ACH) program. Thirty per cent of her clients are from CALD backgrounds, a group already at higher risk of housing distress.
Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) reports many older migrants, particularly those from China and India, often come to Australia later in life and haven’t been able to buy a house, or have come to live with family and if it hasn’t worked out, have nowhere to go.
According to the 2021 census, 15 per cent of the homeless population are migrants (arrived in the last five years). That’s more than three times the size of new migrants in the general population. Language barriers and a lack of knowledge and understanding around Australian systems and services are among the obstacles.