A secure, affordable home for older Australians

The National Aged Care Alliance has developed this paper to highlight the urgent need to provide secure, suitable and affordable homes for older Australians now and into the future. The structure and funding of our aged care system presumes that people own their own home or enjoy living in secure and affordable rental housing, while aged care itself is increasingly focussed on providing that care in the home. However, a growing number of older Australians live in unaffordable, insecure and inappropriate housing. In part, that is the consequence of the continuing failure and inequity of Australia’s housing market. But the extent of demographic and economic change is also amplifying the demand for affordable high quality housing. A failure to ensure the implementation of design principles which would facilitate age-friendly living in newly built housing has led to many homes becoming unsuitable once a person experiences illness or injury, and to a lack of supply of suitable homes as alternatives. This makes a decisive public policy response both essential and urgent.