Publications

Home and Housed is an annual HAAG newsletter detailing our service data, case studies, service model and analysis of housing trends. Through early intervention and prevention, Home at Last assisted 1081 older people who were at risk of homelessness in the 2017-2018 Financial Year. This included our small outreach team housing 130 people, even in the tough conditions (halting of public housing offers) created by the Victorian Housing Renewal Program. We want to share this great achievement with our members and anyone else who is interested in how the Home at Last model works.

Read Home and Housed 2nd Edition here

Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) has welcomed proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (RTA) that bring stronger protection for older renters in caravan park and residential parks.  In recent years, hundreds of home owners across Victoria who thought they had security in retirement have found themselves suddenly facing homelessness as developers closed the parks in which they lived.  Under the proposed reforms, residents will be able to access compensation if their parks close down and they are forced to move.

During Homelessness Week 2018 Fiona York talked with Lisa Tribuzio, North Metro Diversity Advisor, North Metro Sector Development team about HAAG's engagement with LGBTI communities

This article looks at the impact of the Victorian Government's Public Housing Redevelopment Program on older people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Read the Article here

The Ageing on the Edge Older Persons Homelessness Prevention Project is a partnership between Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) and the University of Adelaide’s Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning (CHURP). Funded over five years by The Wicking Trust and with principal project leads Jeff Fiedler (HAAG) and Dr Debbie Faulkner (CHURP), the project is addressing the rapidly increasing problem facing large numbers of older people, the majority women, at risk of homelessness in Australia.

Read the Article here

Senator Doug Cameron launched the edition of Parity Magazine June 2018 titled "Older people and homelessness: What Works"

You can download his speech here

HAAG published several articles as part of the June 2018 edition of Parity Journal.

• Ageing on the Edge Older Persons Homelessness Prevention Project. Jeff Fiedler and Debbie Fawkner
• Public Housing Redevelopments Impact Older Persons’ Health and Wellbeing Tegan Leeder
• Housing Related Challenges for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities Gemma White
• Independent Living Units: Underfunded and Misunderstood Fiona Waters

“Our members have been calling for an Ombudsman for the Retirement Housing industry for years,” said HAAG Chair Phyll Williams. “At the moment, older residents struggle to resolve disputes with their managers in quickly, cheaply and fairly. An ombudsman is sorely needed by many residents of retirement housing.” Ms Williams called on the Andrews government to match the LNP’s commitment. “Now that the Greens and the LNP have expressed support for an Ombudsman, its time for Labor to make it unanimous.  Proper protections for older Victorians should not be a partisan issue,” she said.

Home at Last, are appalled at the findings of the Inquiry into the Public Housing Renewal Program which revealed that the previous redevelopment in Kensington (a model for the current program) actually decreased the total number of Public and Community houses by 36% and the number of bedrooms by 54%, while selling off the public land for just 5% of its market value.