Older Tenants Victoria

Caravan & Residential Parks Residents' Working Group NEXT MEETING DATE: Monday 6th July Click here for details

Options paper: Tenancy policy framework for residential parks
provides an opportunity for park operators, residents, advocacy groups and other interested stakeholders to contribute to improving the legal framework for tenancy arrangements in residential parks.

Over the past 10 years, residential parks have emerged as an important form of long term accommodation, particularly for retirees and pensioners. With these new forms of accommodation, issues arise which may not be adequately addressed by the existing legislative framework.

This Paper sets out a series of options to address the following issues:

security of tenure
internal dispute resolution
resident participation in decision making
conractual issues relating to resale and disclosure conditions
deferred management fees
resale arrangements
park rules
rent increases
capital replacement
energy charges
information disclosure, and
repairs and maintenance.

Click here for full report

If you would like to respond to this Options Paper, written submissions are due by 10 July 2009. Please send your submissions to: By Post: "Residential Parks" Consumer Affairs Victoria, GPO Box 123, Melbourne 3001 or By email: resparks(at)justice.vic.gov.au

Congratulations to the HAAG working group, CARPRA - Caravan and Residential Park Residents Association - for their valuable contributions.

For the month of June, Housing for the Aged had a window display in Ross House, Flinders Lane highlighting the Options paper: Tenancy policy framework for residential parks.

Click here to download latest newsletter Winter 2009

Older People Need a Special Housing Plan
Read an article by Jeff Fiedler,
Tenancy Advice and Policy Worker at HAAG. This article was printed in Parity (produced by Council to Homeless Persons) May 2009
Click here to read the article in full

Caravan Parks or Villages?
A forum was held on 16 October 2008
at ACMI. Report available here.

Our thanks and appreciation to the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust for their grants of $10,000 to assist with our client work and community education.
We also received an additional grant of $3,000 from the Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation during their “85 Days of Giving” program. HAAG was nominated by a number of our members, clients and other community workers who consider our work for the community to be of great merit. The money will be used to assist our ACHA clients to keep their current housing or move to new accommodation. Thanks to all those who nominated us.

Our AGM was held on October 9
with lots of people and optimism in spite of funding problems... pics here

While HAAG lacks sufficient capital resources, our workers and volunteers continue to fill a vital, national, regional & local role in placing older person's housing on the political agenda.
HAAG has achieved this for the past 25 years!
We continue to publicize the plight of older people suffering terrible housing stress.
Response to the Commonwealth Government Green Paper "Which Way Home?"
August 2008
(2.44Mb)

Ageing in Place? F
The impact of the housing crisis on older people in the private rental market
A forum was held 18 June 2008 .. over 100 people attended .. our 4 tenant speakers were excellent & moved many people to tears about their experiences in private rental accommodation
A terrible & ongoing CRISIS
for older people on low income
who are caught in the poverty trap
of private rental housing!!!
Jeff Fiedler, who is HAAG's worker funded by Consumer Affairs Victoria reports on his presentation to the National Housing Conference on 22 February 2008.
Also other presentations of note
are included in this .pdf file.
Click here for a recent, easy to read exposure of this seemingly impossible situation
that any one of us could face ...

ONLY the RICH get housing without climbing and falling off a very steep ladder... see the parliament cartoon!
Housing Justice for the Aged
Manifesto 2007
Draft letter to Prime Minister

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a roof for the rich, scorn for the aged
living rough article living rough letter

Go to the Homeless Women page & see some answers to the questions posed above...