CHIA was very pleased to attend the launch in Parliament of new research conducted by Housing For The Aged Action Group by researchers at Swinburne University of Technology, Western Sydney University and Curtin University examines the housing circumstances of people aged 55 years and older, based on Census analysis and Homelessness Estimates.
The report sets out in stark terms how housing insecurity amongst older people is increasing with fewer people reaching retirement owning their own home outright. In ten years to 2021, the % has dropped from 62% to 58%, but with significantly higher drops for those in lower income brackets.
There are growing number of older people (now 700,000) renting in the private sector. Many in the lower income brackets are paying unaffordable rents (more than 30% of their gross income) equating to ‘nearly a quarter of a million (227,565) older people’.
In proportionate terms, fewer older households are living in social housing, a reflection that this type of housing has failed to keep pace with a growing population and eligibility rules have been tightened. Simply being ‘old’ is insufficient to get priority status on social housing waiting lists.
More older Australians are also living in marginal housing (such as caravans) and experiencing homelessness in Australia in 2021 compared to a decade earlier.
For those older people who do not own a home, their incomes have not grown anywhere enough to keep pace with rising rents. An increasing number are relying on their super balances to help pay their rent, clearly an unsustainable state of affairs. Further the insecurity and often poor condition of private rental and marginal housing make it almost impossible to age safely in place. If not tackled the problem of poor housing will lead to more individuals requiring expensive residential care.
Amongst the options put forward by HAAG are that a more diverse range of housing options are developed, including affordable retirement living and co-housing, improved tenancy conditions and specialist support services. This is on top of much more social housing.
