Retirement Housing Advice Service
Seniors Festival Retirement Housing Info Session
An independent, online information session about the retirement housing sector in Victoria. It can be complex to navigate, and this session helps people to understand the pros and cons of different housing types, including retirement villages, residential parks, lifestyle villages, rental villages, and independent living units. The session will also cover where you can go… …
Posted in: Events, Community Education
Statement on appropriate regulation of land lease communities
Melbourne, July 15: Land lease communities need better regulation to protect older people from mistreatment, according to Housing for the Aged Action Group. Today a story published by the ABC highlighted problematic deferred management fees charged by some land lease communities or residential parks. These often-exorbitant fees make it extremely difficult for older people who… …
Posted in: News Updates, Campaigns
Parity Article: How to improve and protect the rights of older people living in retirement housing
The power imbalance between tenant and landlord in Australia in 2024 is well known. But for people living in retirement housing there is often an even greater power imbalance between them and their housing provider. Read the article from Parity here …
Posted in: Parity Articles
Overcoming bullies in Retirement Villages
Mary* is a HAAG member living in a retirement village in the west of Melbourne. She’s lived there since 2018, and enjoyed a couple of good years there before a new manager named Dean* started there in late 2019. Mary soon noticed tensions developing between her and Dean, but within a year these had erupted… …
Posted in: Client Stories, Retirement Housing, Retirement Villages
Preventing Homelessness among Older Women Research Project: Round Table Discussion
Join the Eastern Affordable Housing Alliance for an optimistic and engaging discussion about solutions to older women’s homelessness in Melbourne’s eastern region.Can retirement villages and Independent Living Units can support older women at risk of homelessness? How we can tap into under-utilised buildings and homes to unlock much-needed housing supply? Join the discussions at Maroondah… …
Posted in: Events, Community Education
Online Retirement Housing Information Session
If you, a friend, a family member or a client are looking into a retirement village, a lifestyle park, a rental village, a residential park or a caravan park come along for a general understanding of the different housing types, their pros and cons and their similarities and differences. The presentation will also cover information… …
Posted in: Events, Community Education
Residential Parks – Falling Through the Gaps
Residential parks suffer from numerous significant, systemic and overlapping issues, so HAAG proposes a six-pronged strategy to address these issues. Read the briefing note …
Posted in: Fact Sheets
24 months in a leaky house!
Sally is a woman in her 70’s living in a retirement village in Victoria’s North. Sally contacted HAAG’s Retirement Housing Advice Service (RHAS) in late 2021 after 18 months of attempting to resolve an issue with her leaking roof by herself. Sally originally reported to management her roof was leaking in 2020 after she noticed… …
Posted in: Client Stories, Retirement Housing, Retirement Villages
A light shining brightly in this dark modern world
Trevor was referred to our service by the local crisis homelessness service Beyond Housing in December, after he had received an eviction notice due to the landlord wanting to sell. He had until 26 February to find housing, and wanted to move closer to his support networks and medical services in the Yarra Ranges. Our… …
Posted in: Client Stories, Pets, Public Housing, North Central Victoria
Residential parks roundtable: summary report
In August 2022, the Residential Tenancies Commissioner and HAAG co-hosted a residential parks roundtable (the roundtable) to hear from residents in Victoria about their experiences of living in residential parks. Approximately 70 residents from residential parks across Victoria joined the meeting, which was co-chaired by the Commissioner and HAAG’s Executive Officer. Staff from HAAG, the… …
Posted in: Reports
Comment on the Exposure Draft of proposed amendments to the Retirement Villages Act
The draft of proposed amendments to the Retirement Villages Act bill fails to address many concerns raised by and on behalf of residents, in particular around management standards and fairer fees. The bill allows the most exploitative and predatory operators to continue to operate according to ‘churn’ business models where they are incentivised to maintain… …
Posted in: Submissions
Retirement Housing Advice Service Brochure
All about our Retirement Housing Advice service, workers advice line, and retirement housing working group in one handy brochure. Read the brochure here …
Posted in: Brochures