Australia

Rental warning: Falling home ownership rates set to bite retirees

Older Australians are falling off the housing ladder and face spending their retirement as renters, with the situation expected to worsen for coming generations. Senior Australians in the private rental market are “at much greater risk of financial stress than home owners, or those in public housing”, according to the Grattan Institute’s recently launched Grattan Retirement Incomes Model. Older
2018

Things to consider when working with older women who are experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness

This document outlines issues for practitioners and service providers to consider when working with older women who are experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. The target audience is primarily practitioners and service providers who are not experienced and/or specialised in providing services to older women experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.
2018
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When falling home ownership and ageing baby boomers collide

Until now, the majority of older people in Australia have achieved the goal of owning their own home outright. Hence, policymakers have typically shown little concern about the size and budget costs of rental housing assistance programs for seniors.
2018

Sensible reform to finance affordable housing deserves cross-party support

Like Australia, the UK has a serious problem with housing affordability and supply, made worse by policy and market settings that fuel instability in rental housing.
2017

Majority of Australian tenants are living in rental stress

The Rent.com.au Rental Affordability Survey of more than 2,000 renters across Australia in April revealed that 53 per cent of tenants reported spending one-third to a half of their weekly income on rent. Rental stress occurs when a person pays more than a third of their income on rent.
2017
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Supporting older lower income tenants in the private rental sector

Retired lower income households living in the private rental sector face rent increases and insecure tenure while being on low fixed incomes (i.e. the age pension).
2017

Older Women's Homelessness: designing smaller homes to meet rising demands

Older Women’s Homelessness: A Growing Crisis • 1 in 7 people experiencing homelessness are over 55 years old • Only 1.62 percent of properties across Australia are affordable for single people on the age pension • 14 percent of people aged 65-84, and 11 percent of people aged over 85, are now renting on the private market • Home ownership rates dropped to 42% by 2014 and are expected to continue t
2017

Single women face a frightening future of homelessness in Australia

Only about 6 per cent of homeless people in Australia are sleeping rough; the rest are in temporary accommodation, sleeping in their cars or couchsurfing. And one of the most shocking trends from the data is the increase in homelessness among older women.
2017

Tiny houses: Interest is growing but who wants them and why?

My research to date has found a marked increase in people who want their own tiny house, particularly among older women. Based on earlier research, I argued tiny houses could be part of a solution to the perennial and wicked problem of unaffordable housing, as well as improving urban density and the environmental sustainability of housing. Demographically, interest in tiny houses is biased towar
2017

No place like home: The impact of declining home ownership on retirement

Australia’s retirement income system has long implicitly taken it for granted that the vast majority of retired people will have very low housing costs – in turn reflecting a presumption that most of them will own their own homes, and will have fully paid down any mortgage debt taken on in order to finance the original acquisition of their homes; and that those who have been unable to become home-
2017
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