Publications

“Our members have been calling for an Ombudsman for the Retirement Housing industry for years,” said HAAG Chair Phyll Williams. “At the moment, older residents struggle to resolve disputes with their managers in quickly, cheaply and fairly. An ombudsman is sorely needed by many residents of retirement housing.” Ms Williams called on the Andrews government to match the LNP’s commitment. “Now that the Greens and the LNP have expressed support for an Ombudsman, its time for Labor to make it unanimous.  Proper protections for older Victorians should not be a partisan issue,” she said.

Home at Last, are appalled at the findings of the Inquiry into the Public Housing Renewal Program which revealed that the previous redevelopment in Kensington (a model for the current program) actually decreased the total number of Public and Community houses by 36% and the number of bedrooms by 54%, while selling off the public land for just 5% of its market value.

On the 13^th of January, Minister for Housing Martin Foley announced that the State Government would invest $45 million in housing services and housing, to tackle the state’s homelessness crisis. While Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) welcomes the focus on early intervention and pathways into long term housing, it would like to see more money invested into housing itself, so that services can offer long-term, rather than band aid solutions.

Housing for the Aged Action Group, a Victorian organisation working to improve conditions for older renters, welcomed news of major changes to the state’s rental laws over the weekend. The Andrews Government will ban no-reason notices to vacate, allow tenants to keep pets, and introduce a Residential Tenancies Commissioner to make it easier to resolve minor disputes.

"On 8 June 2017, 24 representatives from resident advocacy groups, universities, industry, ombudsman schemes, government agencies and regulators met in Melbourne at an Experts’ Forum to discuss the future of retirement housing regulation in Victoria. We were also joined by academics and advocates from interstate jurisdictions.

The Experts’ Forum followed the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the retirement housing sector, which released its final report on 7 March 2017. The Inquiry received 766 submissions and heard from 90 witnesses. The vast majority of evidence was received from residents.

The message to the Inquiry was clear: residents expect change. While many residents generally enjoy life in their choice of retirement housing, many are also frustrated by a system they see as geared in favour of operators. Some feel that instead of prioritising residents, operators are more concerned about satisfying shareholders.

Residents gave evidence to the Inquiry about what they see as unjustifiable exit fees, complex contracts and poor dispute resolution."

See the full report here

Shocking new data from the ABS Census shows that 84% of single older* private renters in the Greater Melbourne region are in housing stress,  and the majority (54%) are in severe stress paying more than half their income in rent, forcing many older people into abject poverty and ill health. Current trends suggest this situation is only going to get worse with an ageing population and more people expected to be retiring in rental housing in the future rather than home ownership.

Four corners ran a fantastic episode last night on dodgy retirement housing opporator AVEO, and other articles have recently been published that expose many of the problems residents of retirement housing have been facing for a long time – complicated contracts, unfair fees and issues with management. Unfortunately, these are not isolated problems with one operator, they occur across the whole of the retirement housing industry, and we must continnue to push for reform.

Download Full Press Release

Thursday 16th February 2017

Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) is appalled at reports that the Turnbull government plans to axe the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) in the May 2017 budget. This agreement between Federal and State governments provides the only Commonwealth funding for housing and homelessness services...

Download

1 Aug 2016

Download