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Mortgage stress and precarious home ownership: implications for older Australians
This research investigated the growing numbers of middle aged and older Australians who are carrying mortgage debt into retirement and paying off higher levels of debt relative to house values and income. Between 1987 and 2015, mortgage debt among older mortgagors increased by 600 per cent (from $27,000 to over $185,000).
2019
The Emerging Crisis of Aged Homelessness: Could Housing Solutions Be Funded by Avoidance of Excess Shelter, Hospital, and Nursing Home Costs?
This report summarizes a multi-site study in three localities – Boston, New York City, and Los Angeles County – of the anticipated future of the aged homeless population, its likely impacts on health and shelter systems and resulting costs, and the potential for housing solutions.
Specifically, this report summarizes the following analyses:
- Forecasts of the size of the aged homeless population
2019
Dignity and choice: An inclusive future for our ageing population
Around the world, advanced economies are grappling with the challenges of an ageing population. Despite this, city shaping decisions are often made without sufficient consideration of how cities will change over the coming decades.
2019
Social Crises: housing, isolation and an ageing population
Taking the idea of intergenerational living more seriously could help ease some of the problems currently facing the young and old in the UK.
2019
Themes:
Preventing Homelessness: A Review of the International Evidence
This rapid review of the international evidence was designed to look for lessons in developing effective homelessness prevention from other countries.
The review found three essentials for effective homelessness prevention.
1. Prevention must be part of an integrated homelessness strategy.
2.
2019
A 21st Century eco-almshouse: St. John’s Almshouses, Lichfield
The St. John’s Almshouse project comprises 18 new flats within two brand new, Passivhaus certified buildings set within an extensive landscaping scheme in the grounds of the existing Grade I listed Almshouses in Lichfield, UK.
The Almshouses provide sheltered accommodation, or more specifically, ‘independent living for older people, with neighbourly support and care’.
2019
What Are the Structural Barriers to Planning for Later Life? A Scoping Review of the Literature
This review draws on Street and Desai (2011) to characterise planning as the range of activities people deliberately pursue with the aim of achieving desired outcomes in later life.
2019
Themes:
Growing and ageing population ‘highlights urgent need for housing investment’
New statistics showing Scotland’s population is to continue to increase and age is further evidence of the desperate need for more financial support for the housing sector.
Research shows that thousands of older people are stuck in unsuitable homes and are unable to downsize or adapt them to fit their needs.
2019
Rental Housing for an Ageing Population
In our latest Inquiry, we have turned our attention to rental housing for older people, both now and in the decades to come. We wanted to find out how many homes for rent are likely to be needed over the next 20 years or so, what they should be like and who might provide them.
Today only 22% of those over 65 are tenants (private or social). But this will change.
2019
Themes:
Women over 55 are Australia's fastest growing group of homeless
An introduction service for flatmates, converting family homes into partly self-contained apartments and building community-funded homeless shelters are among new attempts to help older Australian women find secure housing.
Women over 55 are the fastest growing group of homeless people in Australia, though men and younger people are much more likely to be homeless, 2016 census data shows.
2019


"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort."