On Thursday 15 August 2019 the national Ageing on the Edge Older Persons Homelessness Prevention Project is releasing its summary report on the housing crisis facing a growing number of older people in Western Australia.
Produced in collaboration with Council on the Ageing WA and a Reference Group of key WA agencies and individuals, the report highlights the rapidly growing problems facing many older people in WA. The report also identifies solutions to address the vital housing and service responses needed to help older people in WA who are struggling in poverty, hardship and at constant risk of homelessness.
This research has found that there are many older renters struggling to the extent that they are doing without the daily essentials of life such as food, heating, medications and aged care services to ensure they keep a roof over their head. They are a hidden group that are putting up with enormous hardship while constantly under the stress of being, as an older person interviewed stated, ‘one rent increase from disaster’. Older women who have experienced gender disadvantage due to discrimination and lower levels of savings are particularly impacted.
The WA Government is currently developing affordable housing and homelessness strategies. We strongly urge the government to incorporate the key recommendations in this report into these strategies. The Federal Government must also support the WA Government in these initiatives as it has a central role in the funding and provision of affordable housing and responses to homelessness.
The report will be available on our website from 15 August 2019
"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort."