Publications

The Victorian Government's plans to "retire and redevelop" public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne raise serious concerns about the future of genuine public housing. While residents have been promised relocation assistance and the right to return, the proposed redevelopments will only increase "social" housing units by a mere 10%, with the majority of new apartments being privately owned. Critical details regarding land ownership, development types, and the preservation of public housing remain undisclosed. Our submission makes recommendations to address these serious concerns.

Read the submission here

HAAGs submission to this Victorian Parliament inquiry draws on the experiences HAAG hears about the serious lack of homes for older people in regional Victoria. We call for a range of measures to ensure older people in regional Victoria have secure and appropriate housing, including: increasing public and community housing to 10% of all housing stock by 2040; that the Victorian government invest in HAAG’s Home at Last Service to ensure older people across all regional Victoria can receive housing advice and support; and that housing meet accessibility standards to enable people to age in place.

Read our submission here

Our position on the Retirement Villages Amedment Bill 2024

HAAG welcomes the opportunity to provide input into the NSW Draft Homelessness Strategy 2025 – 2035. We especially acknowledge the contributions to this submission made by members of HAAG’s advisory groups including NSW Lived Experience Acton Group (LEAG), National Alliance of Seniors for Housing (NASH), Retirement Accommodation Action Group (RAAG), LGBTQIA+ reference group and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) reference group.

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

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.

HAAG recommends that the Federal Government identify financial products and banking options to prevent older people in the lowest income households falling out of homeownership due to mortgage stress, as well as funding the construction of public and community housing for older people who are not likely to find market based housing

Read our submission

East Gippsland Social and Affordable housing submission 

Public housing is an appropriate housing option for older people, as rents are capped at 25% of income, and it provides security of tenure. In September 2023, the Victorian Government announced plans to “retire and redevelop” the public housing towers over the coming decades.