Older people still need more housing and more support

HAAG response to Victorian Budget 2026-27

Thursday 7 May 2026: ‘Helping with the cost of living’ is a key pillar of Tuesday’s Victorian Budget, providing a number of initiatives aimed at reducing household costs. However, for the increasing numbers of older Victorians locked out of a secure and affordable home - the most basic need – the budget announcements provide minimal relief.

Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) welcomes the $860m investment in 7,000 new social homes over ten years as a step towards providing homes for the 65,000 households currently waiting for public and community housing.  This will go some way to providing the secure and affordable homes people need. However, it equates to only 700 homes per year, and to ensure that all Victorians have the home they need, significantly more investments are needed now and into the future.

‘With more and more older people sleeping in their cars, couch surfing, or paying a huge portion of their pension on rent payments, Victoria urgently needs to invest in housing for older people’ says HAAG’s Executive Officer Fiona York.  ‘We were disappointed that none of this housing investment was earmarked for older people, to enable them to age in place with dignity’.

HAAG is also concerned that the housing investment seems to be entirely for community and so-called “affordable” housing, with no commitment to retaining and increasing public housing, which provides the strongest protections for vulnerable older people.

HAAG welcomes increased funding to services for people experiencing homelessness, such as the $26m expansion of assertive outreach services, and additional emergency accommodation for people sleeping rough. We also welcome the additional $3m for the Tenancy Plus program, supporting social housing residents to maintain their tenancies in moments of financial crisis.

We are disappointed that our Home at Last funding has not increased to meet  an almost 40% increase in demand from older people, more of whom are presenting in a housing crisis, and pointing to the need for further early intervention and prevention for older people who are at risk.

As Victoria moves towards an election in November, HAAG urges the government, opposition and other parties to prioritise secure and affordable housing for older people.