Publications

This spring we farewell our old chairperson, welcome new staff, and keep you up to date with all of HAAGs projects and services.

PDF icon Read the Newsletter here

If you or someone you know needs assistance with housing call Home at Last on 1300 765 170 or download the brochure.
PDF icon Download brochure

26.5% of the people who access our Home at Last Service to avoid becoming homeless, do so because their housing is inappropriate inadequate. Universal design means that older people can age in place, regardless of where they live. The ageing in place concept encourages older people to stay in their own homes, in order to promote health, well-being and independence.

Our submission calls on the Australian Building Codes Board to implement minimum standards for building design so older people can age-in-place.

PDF icon Read the submission here

Our Housing Options booklet helps older Victorians who don't own their own home find safe, secure and affordable housing options.

PDF icon Read the Housing Options Booklet

Fiona York provided evidence outlining the need for affordable housing for older people in Victoria.

Read the Transcript here

LGBTI communities are at a higher risk of becoming homeless compared to the wider community. This risk is further compounded for older LGBTI people who are faced with additional challenges related to ageing and lifelong experiences of stigma and discrimination. The lack of services and programs available to these older people has contributed to a growing trend of older LGBTI people retiring into homelessness.

This joint submission arises from the LGBTI Elders Housing Project, being led by HAAG in partnership with Switchboard Victoria, Val’s LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care, Transgender Victoria and Thorne Harbour Health.

PDF icon Read the submission here

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.

PDF icon Read the Newsletter here

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.

PDF icon Read the full report

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.

PDF icon parliament_of_australia_inquiry_into_homelessness.pdfRead the submission

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.

PDF icon Read the feedback here

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.

PDF icon Read the report here

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.

PDF icon Read the submission here

This submission was prepared in partnership with Val’s LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care, Switchboard Victoria, and Transgender Victoria.


All older people in Australia should enjoy the same high standards of care. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many older people who experience deep and persistent disadvantage. This category of deep and persistent disadvantage describes any older person suffering from the effects of poverty, trauma and/or social isolation, homelessness, and anyone with reduced capacity to live independently or without informal support/s from family, friends or carers.
We estimate that there are over 18,000 older people in Australia experiencing this type of disadvantage who cannot readily access aged care or who are not welcome in many services.

PDF icon Read the full report here

Training video for service providers about Housing for the Aged Action Groups services - includes recent data on the prevalence of homelessness for older people, what to look out for and when to refer to our Home at Last service.

Early intervention to prevent homelessness for older people from Housing Aged on Vimeo.

In September 2019, HAAG was invited to give evidence at the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.  Read our statement here

Older people are particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus.  They need safe and affordable housing so they can practice physical distancing, quarantine and self-isolation as required. 

Read our latest brief here

The 7th issue of NASH news covers personal experiences of precarious home ownership, NRAS, climate change and rentals, and much more.

Click here to read all about it

The patterns and circumstances of low income older non- homeowners identified in this report indicate that Queensland is no exception to the national trends on homelessness and the risk of homelessness for the older population. Overall homelessness in Queensland is rising and the older age groups are increasingly contributing to this growth. Unlike in other states where older people affected by homelessness and marginally housed are concentrated in the metropolitan capital, in Queensland greater numbers are found in regional Queensland.

PDF icon Read the full report

Our autumn newsletter farewells longtime employee and advocate for housing justice, Jeff Fiedler. It also covers HAAGs response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and much more!

PDF icon Read the Newsletter here

Pages