Older persons in public housing: The policy and management issues

At the 2001 Census, 102,735 older persons (aged 65 years or more) were housed in 87,940 public housing dwellings; nearly all (82 per cent) were living alone or with their partners. 63 per cent of these older persons are women. Older tenants comprised approximately 29 per cent of all public housing tenancies, with 48 per cent of these tenants 75 years and over. State and territory housing authorities (SHAs) are now being confronted by a range of major policy, management and practice challenges: older people have higher and changing expectations; many will need support to age in place; and they are no longer restricted to aged-specific dwellings. Rather, with children leaving home, parents are ageing in place in what were ‘family dwellings’, i.e. general stock. In recent years, despite the importance of older people as tenants and as residents in public housing, there has been little research undertaken on the consequent policy and management issues. This Final Report fills a significant research gap by identifying emerging policy and management issues for public housing providers and for Commonwealth and state/territory governments as older people in public housing seek to age in place. [Executive summary]