A pensioner who can no longer afford rent due to the cost of living crisis has been forced to live in her car and shower from a public washbasin.
Susannah Tuxford, 78, has resorted to the drastic life measure with only her dog for company in a car park in Beenleigh, Queensland.
She even revealed that she hadn’t showered in two weeks as she was forced to use a sink in a public toilet to clean herself.
With no family left in Australia, Ms Tuxford said she felt “embarrassed” by her last-ditch effort to maintain shelter.
She is just one of many Australians feeling the cost of living crisis as thousands of Australians seek help for homelessness.
She took aim at the government for not supporting her, despite the fact that she had paid taxes for more than 50 years and now had to wash herself from a sink in a public bathroom.
Ms Tuxford took aim at the federal government for not supporting it.
The 78-year-old has worked hard all her life after getting her first job at the age of 14 and paying taxes for the past 50 years.
“I’ve paid all that money all these years and the government doesn’t help anyone like me,” she told Nine News.
She revealed that after not showering for two weeks, she switched to using a ’tissue plug’ to help her wash herself in a parking lot bathroom early in the morning so no one would see her.
Sandwiches provided to Mrs Tuxford by local charities are the only support she has received.
She too is now dependent on a walking stick after suffering a leg injury during a fall and ‘cannot walk properly’.
Ms Tuxford was offered bed spaces at a local aged care facility after Queensland Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon was contacted by 9News.
The retiree turned down the offer, saying she did not need elderly care, arguing that she just needed a roof over her head so she could continue to live independently.
According to Homeless Australia, Queenslanders will be the hardest hit by the rise in house prices in 2023, with a 12.9 per cent increase in the number of people seeking homelessness support.
A Queensland retiree, Susannah Tuxford (pictured), was forced to live out of her car after she couldn’t keep up with skyrocketing house prices
The state saw the largest increase nationwide, with the number of people seeking support for homelessness rising 7.5 percent nationally.
“The vast majority of that need came from people seeking help with homelessness due to financial stress and the housing crisis,” reads a news release from the national agency.
“Of those who have turned away from homelessness services because they lack the resources to help, 80 percent were women and children and 31 percent were children under 18.”
The agency has called on the government to increase funding to help people who need help with homelessness.
“The federal government has recently made new funding available for social housing, which is welcome, but while the housing crisis continues to exacerbate homelessness, a significant funding boost is needed to meet this unprecedented rise in demand,” says Kate Colvin , CEO of Homelessness Australia. , said.
“Australia has the means to end homelessness, we just need the will.”