Inquiry into housing policies and practices for precariously housed older Australians
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(Published version)
Date
2023
Authors
Faulkner, D.
Sharam, A.
James, A.
Tually, S.
Barrie, H.
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Report
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Abstract
In 2003, AHURI and the Myer Foundation held a one-day conference ‘Housing Futures in an Ageing Australia’ (AHURI 2004). That event, held 20 years ago, identified how population ageing was driving changes in housing demand and how the policy settings of the day and reliance on market mechanisms were ‘unlikely to deliver appropriate and affordable housing for all older Australians in the future – particularly for those with limited assets’. A decade later, in 2021, the importance of housing to older people’s wellbeing was again reiterated, this time in the highest form of public inquiry we have in Australia, a royal commission. This research explores homelessness among the older population.
The impact of stable, quality, affordable housing on older people’s wellbeing cannot be understated, yet a lack of policy reform and action has resulted in increasing numbers of older people facing their later years living in precarious housing situations, including first time homelessness. While, for some, this change in older people’s circumstances seems largely unanticipated, for others, the warning signs were evident two decades ago when it was clear that population ageing was driving changes in housing demand and that the reliance on market solutions was unlikely to provide appropriate and affordable housing for older Australians. As the size of the challenge has worsened, the housing security of lower income older Australians without home ownership has been identified as an area of notable housing and broader social policy concern.