Surviving or Thriving?

5 Jun 2014
Photos shows Jeff Fiedler with Hon. Wendy Lovell who launched the Surviving or Thriving? forum on 5th June 2014.       

The 'Surviving or Thriving?' Forum presented the latest evidence and information from older people about their current housing circumstances.

Forum program included:

  • Opening address by the Minister for Housing, Hon. Wendy Lovell
  • The latest academic research on older people at risk of homelessness by Dr. Wendy Stone and Dr. Maree Petersen
  • Reporting by older people of their housing experiencealong with the launch of HAAG’s state election campaign

Dr. Maree Petersen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for Social Science Research, University of Queensland 

Preventing first time homelessness amongst older Australians

Older people’s homelessness is distinctive.  An important feature of older people’s homelessness is the pattern of older people who experience homelessness for the first time in later life.  A recent national study of older people’s homelessness in Australia found that just under 70% of the sample of 561 had a conventional housing history.  Of particular interest is that a significant proportion of this group were at risk of homelessness given they were unable to continue living with family.  The reasons behind these critical housing incidents were complex and will be discussed in this presentation.

Download Dr Maree Petersen's Powerpoint presentation (251 KB)

Dr. Wendy Stone, Director, AHURI Research Centre, Swinburne University of Technology

A changing private rental sector – implications for older tenants

In light of increasing housing affordability pressures and a highly targeted social housing sector, over 1.8 million Australian households now call the private rental sector ‘home’, and many of these will do so long-term. Yet the private rental sector can be precarious, unaffordable and inaccessible. In this talk, latest research about the ‘new’ private rental sector that has evolved in recent years, its problems, and the place of older tenants within it, are discussed.

Download Dr Wendy Stone's Powerpoint presentation (654 KB)

Download Home at Last  Older persons housing information & support service progress report (700 KB)

ALSO

HAAG's 2014 State Election Policy Platform (1.01 MB)

Special Edition Forum Newsletter 2014 (847 KB)