Publications

Pensioner provides' Comfort and Smile' to older renters

Eighty year old Retirement Village resident June Walkeden knows its tough paying bills on a pension, so she spends her free time hand making quilts to keep older people who have been at risk of homelessness warm.

Shocking New Census Data Shows Most Older Renters in Severe Poverty

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.

 

Innovative Service Houses its 600th Client During Homelessness Week

Homelessness Week 2017 focuses on Innovation and Action and by the end of this week, a Melbourne-based Innovation Action Project will house its 600th older person. The Home at Last Service is the only one in Australia that focuses on preventing homelessness in over 55’s.

Home and Housed 2017

A special edition HAAG Newsletter celebrating the immense achievement of the Home at Last Service. Home at Last has housed 500 clients in long term, affordable, public and social housing since July 2012.

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Internal dispute resolution process - Retirement Villages Act

HAAGs response to the options paper around internal dispute resolution processes under the Retirement Villages Act.

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Download options paper

 

Winter June 2017

Newsletter June Winter 2017 Older Tenants' Voice

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Government must not lose retirement housing momentum

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.

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Advocacy Kit

This toolkit is a guide that can be used to lobby your local politicians make and political change.

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Access to Justice Review

The Government has recently responded to the 2016 Access to Justice Review, prepared by the Department of Justice and Regulation.

HAAG made a submission to this review, which included six background papers and related terms of reference. HAAG's submission can be found here.

The Government has accepted or accepted in-part 57 of the recommendations with some being referred to the courts, and the remaining three recommendations are under further consideration.

A copy of the Government response is available at: https://engage.vic.gov.au/accesstojustice

And an overview of the Access to Justice review is available below:

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Rental Affordability Index- Aged Focused May 2017

"Across the nation, the single pensioner household is facing Severely Unaffordable and Extremely unaffordable rents. For the most part, locating in metropolitan areas (which is where one bedroom dwellings are generally available) would require 60 per cent or more of the pensioner’s income to be spent on rent.

Housing pressures on this household type would also be compounded by a number of other pressures, including health care costs associated with aging". 

May Rental Affordability Index Report 2017

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Affordable housing if you can afford it: HAAGs repsonse to #Budget2017

May 2017

Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) says that the Treasurers budget falls short of delivering housing security for older Australians.
‘The measures put in place in this budget seem to cater mostly for middle-class, income earners and neglect the needs of the most vulnerable; those on government pensions’ says co-manager at HAAG Fiona York.

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At Risk of Homelessness: Preventing Homelessness in Older CALD Communities

Preventing Homelessness in Older Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities is a collaboration between Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV) and HAAG. The project was designed to reach out to key communities and provide housing options and information in their first language.' At Risk of Homelessness' is the report from this project.

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Older Tenants Voice March 2017

Welcome to the first Older Tenants Voice for 2017!

This edition explores some of the achievements of HAAG and its members over the past 3 months including Retirement Housing Sector Reform and the expansion of HAAG Assistance for Housing and Care (ACH) services into the Barwon Region We also discuss some of the challenges faced through threatened federal government cuts to essential services.

We also pay our respects to Carmel McMennemin, life-time member of HAAG and pioneer for housing rights in Victoria.

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Raise the Roof Wednesday, 22 March 2017

HAAG's tenancy worker talks to Jeff Fiedler and April Bragg about the inspiring life of Carmel McMennemin, a longtime member of HAAG who sadly passed away a few weeks ago. This show celebrates her memory and the values she spent her life fighting for.

Summer December 2016

Newsletter December Summer 2016 Older Tenants' Voice

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'A Home for Diversity' Project Report

A Home for diversity is a 6 month project that aimed to increase the capacity of homelessness services to work with people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The project provided training to housing workers, particularly those who work with older people. This training was provided by the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health, in collaboration with Housing for the Aged Action Group.

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The Australian Rental Report 2017

The first survey of Australian renters has been carried out and the results tell a pretty grim story for the growing number of renters out there. You've heard HAAG harp about this for years, now finally it's backed up by an independant study, one that has been getting a lot of attention.

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Federal Government Plans to Axe Housing Fund

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...

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COTA Submission to SA Government

February 2017 - COTA SA

COTA's submission provides recommendations for the Government of South Australia to consider as it formulates its 2017-18 Budget. Within their Housing section, they reference HAAGs own Home at Last service and suggest trialing such a service in SA...

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Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey 2017

International report by Demographia rating Middle-income housing affordability

Data for 3rd Quarter 2016

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