Publications

Telecommunications Consumer Safeguards: Choice and Fairness Joint Submission

Consumer Action, WEstjustice, VALS, FCVic, BCLS, HRCLS and HAAG consider it beyond dispute that telecommunications services, including internet services and mobile phones, are necessary for social inclusion and daily participation in essential activities. The ongoing COVID-19 emergency and associated social distancing, border closures, office and school closures, and quarantine requirements have made this painfully obvious. Despite telecommunications being an essential service, they are not regulated as such.

Read our Joint Submission to the Consumer Safeguards Review

Australian Building Codes Board Response to the Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement

26.5% of the people who access our Home at Last Service to avoid becoming homeless, do so because their housing is inappropriate inadequate. Universal design means that older people can age in place, regardless of where they live. The ageing in place concept encourages older people to stay in their own homes, in order to promote health, well-being and independence.

Our submission calls on the Australian Building Codes Board to implement minimum standards for building design so older people can age-in-place.

PDF icon Read the submission here

Evidence to the Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria

Fiona York provided evidence outlining the need for affordable housing for older people in Victoria.

Read the Transcript here

Joint submission to the Victorian Homelessness Inquiry: LGBTI Older People at Risk of Homelessness

LGBTI communities are at a higher risk of becoming homeless compared to the wider community. This risk is further compounded for older LGBTI people who are faced with additional challenges related to ageing and lifelong experiences of stigma and discrimination. The lack of services and programs available to these older people has contributed to a growing trend of older LGBTI people retiring into homelessness.

This joint submission arises from the LGBTI Elders Housing Project, being led by HAAG in partnership with Switchboard Victoria, Val’s LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care, Transgender Victoria and Thorne Harbour Health.

PDF icon Read the submission here

Submission into the Australian Parliamentary Inquiry into Homelessness

Australia must address the rapidly increasing problem of homelessness for older people. Many of those affected are women and most are facing homelessness for the first time. They are facing unprecedented economic pressures relating to unaffordable rents and the cost of living, which continues to drive up the number older people facing homelessness. With tailored early intervention strategies to prevent homelessness we can avoid the many consequences of homelessness for older people including  premature entry into aged care, severely compromised physical and mental health and in this era of COVID-19, premature death due to the inability to socially isolate.

PDF icon parliament_of_australia_inquiry_into_homelessness.pdfRead the submission

Maximum prices for embedded networks and other exempt sellers Draft Decision feedback

Our clients who live in retirement housing options and receive their energy via an embedded network report concerns with exempt sellers over-charging them for their usage. Our clients often experience a digital divide in accessing adequate information, and commonly express a fear of speaking out and asserting their rights due to fear of negative consequences from management.

This feedback was provided to the Essential Service Commission’s (ESC) Maximum prices for embedded networks and other exempt sellers Draft Decision.

PDF icon Read the feedback here

Policy Note: Covid-19 and older people in housing stress

This policy note to bring to light the difficult choices facing older people during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to both service and survey data from HAAG in late April and May the lives of older people experiencing rental stress are becoming even more precarious.

PDF icon Read the report here

Joint submission to the Inquiry into homelessness in Australia: LGBTI Older People at Risk of Homelessness

Throughout 2019-2020 we surveyed and interviewed 228 older LGBTI people aged between 50 and 80 years of age about their housing and the information they provided forms the basis of this submission. We found that more older LGBTI people have experienced homelessness than their non-LGBTI counterparts, and that older LGBTI people are in circumstances that place them at risk of homelessness.

PDF icon Read the submission here

This submission was prepared in partnership with Val’s LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care, Switchboard Victoria, and Transgender Victoria.

Joint Submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety


All older people in Australia should enjoy the same high standards of care. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many older people who experience deep and persistent disadvantage. This category of deep and persistent disadvantage describes any older person suffering from the effects of poverty, trauma and/or social isolation, homelessness, and anyone with reduced capacity to live independently or without informal support/s from family, friends or carers.
We estimate that there are over 18,000 older people in Australia experiencing this type of disadvantage who cannot readily access aged care or who are not welcome in many services.

PDF icon Read the full report here

HAAG Statement to Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety

In September 2019, HAAG was invited to give evidence at the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.  Read our statement here

Submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Homelessness

Older people in the 55-74 age bracket are the fastest growing cohort within the overall homeless population. Homelessness for older people in Victoria grew at a rate of 57% between 2011 and 2016, compared to 11% in Victoria overall. Australia’s ageing population is rapidly growing. It is predicted to more than double from 2010 to 2050. While the population grows, so does the homelessness crisis for some of our most vulnerable citizens.

Read our Submission here

Aged Care Program Redesign: Submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety

The Aged Care system should be respectful of rights, choice and dignity, but there should also be recognition that for many people who are experiencing homelessness, or living in unsuitable or unaffordable housing, there is no real “choice” in aged care, and the focus instead should be accessing the system.
HAAG strongly support any reforms that lead to a system which is easy to navigate and understand, supportive of the wishes of the older person, and well connected with other services.

PDF icon Read the submission here

Response to the Regulatory Impact Statement for the proposed Residential Tenancies Regulations 2020

Older renters are a key demographic when it comes to rental reform. People over 55 make up the fastest growing segment of the private rental market, a major and growing proportion of social housing tenants, and a key cohort for caravan and residential parks. The government has recognised the needs of older renters as a key concern of the RTA review from the Laying the Groundwork paper onwards. Existing transitional provisions specify certain rental reforms – such as minimum standards – that will only apply to new fixed term or periodic agreements entered into after July 2020. We are concerned this will tend to disproportionately disadvantage older renters.

PDF icon Read our submission here

Residential Tenancies Act - Regulations - Submission Dec 2019

Housing for the Aged Action Group submission in response to the Regulatory Impact Statement for the proposed Residential Tenancies Regulations 2020

Download

Response to the ‘Review of the Retirement Villages Act 1986’ Issues Paper

This joint submission with Consumer Action Law Center focuses on five key areas that have emerged as central to retirement village reform in our casework and in feedback from our members: resident rights, contractual complexity, unfair fees, management standards, and dispute resolution. The case study illustrates the ways these issues are connected and compound each other to the detriment of retirement village residents.

PDF icon Read the Submission

Ageing on the Edge NSW Pre-Budget Submission 2020-21

The Ageing on the Edge NSW Forum is a coali on of organisations working together towards housing justice for older people on low incomes.

Based on widespread consulta on with older people and the community sector in NSW, the Forum has adopted and promotes policy recommendations that are critical to addressing the needs of older people facing housing stress and homelessness.

PDF icon Read the Submission

Evidence to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality & Safety - Housing and Homelessness

Fiona York, Executive Officer of Housing the for the Aged Action Group, gives evidence to The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality & Safety about the obstacles facing older people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to accessing Aged Care.

Submission to the Senate Committee for Community Affairs Inquiry into the Adequacy of Newstart and Related Payments

Our submission to the Inquiry into the Adequacy of Newstart and Related Payments calls on the government to immediately raise the rate of Newstart, abolish punitive and unrealistic mutual obligation requirements for people aged 55 and over, and invest in affordable housing as a matter of priority to prevent further homelessness amongst older people.

PDF icon Read the Submission

Submission to Electricity Distribution Code Review

This submission is based on the experiences of our members and clients living in retirement housing, who have embedded networks in their villages.

Read the submission here

Recommendations for the Terms of Reference of the Aged Care Royal Commission- From HAAG's National Project

"For many years older people at risk of homelessness in the rental market have been discriminated against and severely neglected by the aged care system. The main factor that has caused this problem is a policy framework and aged care service practices that are based on the broad assumption that older people own their own home and, as assets based financial contributors, are more valued than older renters."

Read the submission here.

Pages