A healthy way to avert crisis for the aged

Housing for the Aged Action Group  welcomes  the progressive announcement by the state government to review the Residential Tenancies Act      ("Tenants could get leases of 10 years", 25/6). In what is a largely unregulated private rental market, older people  are often the victims of landlords and tenancy laws that enable them to be evicted with as little as two weeks' notice. Older people can suffer enormous health impacts from such harsh treatment, and our Home at Last service sees many clients who become hospitalised from heart trouble, stroke or other debilitating illness due to the shock of facing homelessness. This can cause a downward spiral of ill health that ends in premature entry into aged care accommodation. Secure long-term leases would create stability to ensure older people can successfully age-in-place. This  helps our whole society by ensuring  older people avoid the far more costly consequences of crisis service supports and continue to be active contributors in our community. These reforms, along with increases in public housing supply, would be a  step forward in social justice for Victoria. 

Jeff Fiedler, Housing for the Aged Action Group, Melbourne

the Age, Friday 26th June 2015