Contentment and suffering: the impact of Australia's housing policy and tenure on older Australians.

Post WWII, the housing policy of successive Australian governments has focused on facilitating the expansion of home ownership. This policy has enabled a large proportion of older Australians to acquire their own homes. In mid-2006, 72.5 per cent of older Australians (65 and over), owned their home; 7.2 per cent were dependent on the private rental market and only 4.1 per cent were public housing tenants. Noteworthy, is that the proportion of older Australians in the public housing sector dropped from 5.3 per cent in 1991 to 4.4 per cent in 2001 and to 4.1 per cent in 2006, whereas the proportion in the private rental market went up from 6.2 percent in 1991 to 7.1 percent in 2001 and to 7.2 per cent in 2006. This trend is set to continue, estimating the number of older, low-income renters will increase substantially - from 195,000 in 2004 to 419,000 in 2026 and that the bulk will be accommodated in the private rental market if the present policy trends continue.