Advocates say the federal government's housing plan is a good first step but is "insufficient" to help women aged 55 and older who are facing the highest rate of homelessness in a decade.
People older than 55 years make up just 16 per cent of Australia's homeless population and the majority of this cohort are men.
But the growth of women becoming homeless at this age has advocates fearing more is needed to reverse the trend.
"[It] gives us a glimpse into some issues that are present and growing," said Dr Liz Allen, a demographer at the ANU.
The federal government has touted its plans to create more social housing but advocates fear it won't be enough to tackle growing rates of homelessness.
The majority of people without secure homes in the 2016 census were younger than 35, and nearly half of the increase in the homeless population overall were people aged between 25 and 34 years.
The number of older women experiencing homelessness increased by 31 per cent from 2011, up to almost 7,000 in 2016.
Losing their jobs in their middle ages poses a major risk to women, who typically have smaller savings and superannuation than men thanks to years out of the workforce raising children.
"If we could address the problems facing the majority of homeless people, then we could help women over 55," Dr Allen said.
Few options available
Older Women's Network chief executive Yumi Lee said the census data reflected what she was seeing firsthand.
"We have older women who live with their children, who get moved from house to house when they overstay their welcome," she said.
"When those relationships break down, they have to move out and now they're in trouble.
"Crisis accommodation doesn't suit them because they've often never had to be in that situation before or interact with social services, and it's a shock to them if they're living in hovels with people who are abusing drugs."
The federal parliament is currently considering legislation that would see 30,000 more social and affordable homes built in the next five years. Of those, 4,000 would be for women and children facing domestic violence and other women at risk of homelessness.
Ms Lee said while that was a welcome first step, more was needed.
"I really appreciate that they want to fix the problem," she said.
"But the amount of housing they're putting up is insufficient.
"You're looking at a problem with hundreds of thousands of people needing assistance."
Welfare payments not meeting rent
When an older woman loses her job and if her savings are also low, she is likely to resort to welfare payments, like Jobseeker.
But that program is intended to be short-lived, which can be problematic for people too young to be eligible for the aged care pension.
Homelessness Australia chief executive Kate Colvin said discriminatory hiring practices meant women in their mid-40s and older struggled to get hired for new jobs.
"A really common pathway into homelessness for women is they lose employment around 45 to 55, end up on Jobseeker (and) can't get another job because employment discrimination has kicked in," she said.
"But Jobseeker is so low that they can't afford to rent."
The Jobseeker rate will increase in March as part of its biannual indexation.
But the federal government is yet to announce any plans to substantially increase the rate of JobSeeker.
Ahead of this year's budget in May, an expert will look at the rate of payments like JobSeeker, the findings of which will be made public in late April.
Federal Housing Minister Julie Collins has described the government's social housing bill as the "single biggest investment in social and affordable housing in more than a decade".
The Greens housing and homelessness spokesman Max Chandler-Mather has dismissed Labor's plan as an uncertain gamble on the stock market rather than an investment in housing.
Independent senator David Pocock has warned the 30,000 homes "won't even come close to meeting demand".
Ms Colvin expects both Labor, the Greens and Senator Pocock could be right.
"It's good because it's something," she said.
"It's also not enough."
