Submissions
HAAG makes submissions to local, state and federal Governments, sharing the voices and lived experience of our members and advocating for progress towards safe, secure and affordable housing for older people.
Submission to: Establishing a 10-Year Strategy for Social and Affordable Housing Discussion Paper
Our submission covers all areas of HAAGs work in relation to the Victorian Governments 10 year affordable housing strategy and ‘Big Housing Build’.
We recommend that the Government must take steps to produce more housing that is suitable for and available to older people at risk of homelessness. This could mean reinvestment in the Independent Living Unit (ILU) sector, changes to social housing eligibility, further increases in housing stock, targeted shared equity initiatives and/or support to scale pilot projects.
Read the submission …
Cultural Diversity Reference Group submission to Submission to the Ten Year Affordable Housing Strategy
Our CALD working group made this submission to highlight what older CALD communities need from the State Government’s 10 year housing strategy. Read the submission here …Posted in: Multicultural & Multifaith Communities
Housing justice for older people in NSW – Pre-Budget Submission 2021-22
The Ageing on the Edge New South Wales Forum is calling on the NSW Government to deliver 5,000 additional social housing dwellings, improve access of older people to appropriate social and affordable housing, establish a state-wide housing information and support service for older people, increase security of tenure for renters, extend the eviction moratorium during the COVID-19 pandemic and expand rent support to impacted tenants. Read the pre-budget submission …Posted in: Campaigns, New South Wales
Aged Care Bond Rule
A HAAG submission in response to a request from Consumer Affairs Victoria to respond to a report produced by the Property Council of Australia. Download …Posted in: Retirement Housing Advice Service
Telecommunications Consumer Safeguards: Choice and Fairness Joint Submission
Consumer Action, WEstjustice, VALS, FCVic, BCLS, HRCLS and HAAG consider it beyond dispute that telecommunications services, including internet services and mobile phones, are necessary for social inclusion and daily participation in essential activities. The ongoing COVID-19 emergency and associated social distancing, border closures, office and school closures, and quarantine requirements have made this painfully obvious. Despite telecommunications being an essential service, they are not regulated as such. Read our Joint Submission to the Consumer Safeguards Review …
Australian Building Codes Board Response to the Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement
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. Read the submission here …
Evidence to the Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria
Fiona York provided evidence outlining the need for affordable housing for older people in Victoria. Read the Transcript here …
Joint submission to the Victorian Homelessness Inquiry: LGBTI Older People at Risk of Homelessness
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. Read …Posted in: LGBTQIA+
Submission into the Australian Parliamentary Inquiry into Homelessness
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. …
Maximum prices for embedded networks and other exempt sellers Draft Decision feedback
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.
Read the feedback here …Posted in: Retirement Housing Advice Service
Policy Note: Covid-19 and older people in housing stress
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. Read the report here …
Joint submission to the Inquiry into homelessness in Australia: LGBTI Older People at Risk of Homelessness
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. Read the submission here This submission was prepared in partnership with Val’s LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care, Switchboard Victoria, and Transgender Victoria. …Posted in: LGBTQIA+