Our winter newsletter is packed with information on our response to the coronavirus, the lockdown, along with our many projects and services. And for the first time it incorporates the National Alliance of Seniors for Housing stories from around the country.
HAAG was shocked at reports of a “hard lockdown” being enforced by police on public housing tenants in Flemington and North Melbourne on Saturday. This response was inappropriate and stigmatized low income, mostly migrant Victorians, many of whom have English as a second language.
Today HAAG released a report showing the extent of the housing crisis for older Victorians. Written by Dr Debbie Faulkner from the University of South Australia, it combines census data with data from Specialist Homelessness Services to closely examine the housing circumstances of people aged 55+ in Victoria.
Homelessness is a rapidly growing problem in Victoria. Between the 2006 and 2016 Census the number of people experiencing homelessness in Victoria increased from a rate of 35.3 per 10,000 population to 41.9 per 10,000 population. A desperate shortage of affordable housing and skyrocketing rents are driving more and more people, from diverse backgrounds, out of their homes and into homelessness.
Belying the old stereotypes of homeless people being “rough sleepers: with complex needs, the fastest growing cohorts of people becoming homeless are women and older people. For many homeless means couch sur ng, living in severe overcrowding, and temporarily in rooming houses and emergency accommodation.
This report examines the cohort of older people, over 55 years old, who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless. During the same period between 2006 and 2016, older persons homelessness grew by 58 per cent. Drawing on Census, as well as Specialist Homelessness Services data from across the state, this report examines the makeup of this growing and often hidden demographic of homeless people.
Fiona talks to Gary Ferguson, community education coordinator at Seniors Rights Victoria about World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.Shane and Leonie are back, talking about all the HAAG news
Australia must address the rapidly increasing problem of homelessness for older people. Many of those affected are women and most are facing homelessness for the first time. They are facing unprecedented economic pressures relating to unaffordable rents and the cost of living, which continues to drive up the number older people facing homelessness. With tailored early intervention strategies to prevent homelessness we can avoid the many consequences of homelessness for older people including premature entry into aged care, severely compromised physical and mental health and in this era of COVID-19, premature death due to the inability to socially isolate.
Our clients who live in retirement housing options and receive their energy via an embedded network report concerns with exempt sellers over-charging them for their usage. Our clients often experience a digital divide in accessing adequate information, and commonly express a fear of speaking out and asserting their rights due to fear of negative consequences from management.
This feedback was provided to the Essential Service Commission’s (ESC) Maximum prices for embedded networks and other exempt sellers Draft Decision.
This policy note to bring to light the difficult choices facing older people during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to both service and survey data from HAAG in late April and May the lives of older people experiencing rental stress are becoming even more precarious.
Throughout 2019-2020 we surveyed and interviewed 228 older LGBTI people aged between 50 and 80 years of age about their housing and the information they provided forms the basis of this submission. We found that more older LGBTI people have experienced homelessness than their non-LGBTI counterparts, and that older LGBTI people are in circumstances that place them at risk of homelessness.
"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort."