According to the final report on older people in public housing
by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) Swinburne-Monash
Research Centre, public housing will need to provide an additional 4391 dwellings
for older people nationally each year to 2016 to match current levels of demand.
The highest increase in demand will come from the 85 plus age
group.
More than 100,000 older Australians (those aged over 60) are
in housing stress. And with Australia’s increasingly ageing population,
the situation is expected to worsen.
Increased rents in the private rental sector and the anticipated
demise of one significant social housing option for older people – independent
living units managed by aged-care organisations – will compound these
challenges.
Sean McNelis, research fellow with Swinburne’s Institute
for Social Research and the report’s principal author, said the lives
of some older people – those previously living in private rental accommodation
– are positively transformed through public housing, which they regard
as an affordable housing option.
“Older people love their public housing and the feeling
of community within their complex of units,” Mr McNelis said. “They
like that their public-housing complex only houses older people, its convenience
to shops, amenities and transport, and that maintenance and modifications are
done when needed.”
The authors interviewed 38 older public-housing tenants as part
of the research on issues facing public-housing providers.
But the report also warned that some public-housing stock, because
of its location, poor condition, quality and small size, will soon become unacceptable
to older people. Further, the demand for ground-floor and modified dwellings
by older tenants wanting to age-in-place will increase.
McNelis said mounting evidence from a series of AHURI reports
on older people points to an urgent need for major new investment in social
housing to meet the housing needs of older people with low incomes and few assets.
“Older people are no longer restricted to aged-specific
public housing. Rather, with their children leaving home, people are ageing-in-place
in what were public-housing family homes.”
The report revealed that the key concern of older people with
regard to housing is their quality of life. They expect more of public housing
than just a place to live.
“A key challenge for public-housing providers and for
the Australian, state and territory governments is to expand the role for public
housing from one that simply provides accommodation to a role in which housing
for older people opens up opportunities for social networking and participation
in a range of social, cultural and political activities,” McNelis said.
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