Campaigns

Housing for the Aged Action Group calls the government’s Retirement Villages Act Amendments Bill, released today after a five-year consultation period, a “mixed bag” that includes important improvements for residents but leaves some major areas of concern inadequately addressed.

HAAG’s Pre-Budget Submission provides proposals to address the impacts of the housing crisis on older Victorians. We call on the Victorian government to: respond to the specific housing needs older people by increasing investment in the Home at Last service so it can provide support across the state; fund housing options for older renters who aren’t eligible for social housing; and fund a service to assist older women to access a broader range of housing options including co-operative housing.

We also call for increasing public and community housing to 10% of all housing stock by 2040, investment in revitalising the Independent Living Units (ILU) Sector, and legislating a definition of ‘affordable housing’.

Read our pre-budget submission

Summarising research first published in Not poor enough, not rich enough: older people falling through the housing assistance eligibility gap,  this fact sheet illustrates the scale of the housing affordability crisis affecting older people in Australia, the current lack of housing options that they can afford, as well as proposed solutions.

Read the fact sheet

The Aged Care Bill aims to legislate a number of changes proposed by the Aged Care Taskforce including Support at Home. Fundamental to receiving support at home is the expectation that older people have a stable home. HAAG makes a number of recommendations to ensure older people in private rental, marginal housing and other precarious housing settings have equitable access to support at home similar to homeowners.

Read our submission

We are particularly concerned by the suggestion that no person under 65 should be eligible for aged care services in any circumstance. If implemented, this would exclude prematurely aged homeless people, or those at risk of homelessness, from accessing specialist aged care services like residential care and Support at Home.

Our clients often age prematurely as a result of cumulative and persistent disadvantage and have one or more age-related conditions. While these people are not aged 65+, they require access to aged care services earlier than the rest of the population. Many of our clients are not eligible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.