Housing affordability stand-out issue for seniors' wellbeing

The Index of Wellbeing for Older Australians discovered there are large concentrations of over 65s experiencing low wellbeing on the fringes of major cities compared to inner-city areas but also found that housing affordability was the stand-out issue.

The Index maps how older people are faring nationally across five areas including education, health, resources and wealth including housing.

"This study smashes the perception that affordable housing is purely a young person’s worry," Dr Kirsty Nowlan, The Benevolent Society’s Executive Director of Social Policy and Advocacy, said.

"Contrary to popular belief, not all older people own their homes. The study shows that older people in many parts of Australia find the struggle to keep a roof over their heads has a significant adverse effect on their overall wellbeing.

"Areas where there are more people aged 65 and over are paying rent or still paying a mortgage are more likely to be among the most disadvantaged areas on the city fringes. This highlights the urgent need for all levels of government, business and the not-for-profit sector to collaborate on the financing and supply of more affordable and social housing," she said.

University of Canberra Professor of Economics and the study’s co-researcher, Professor Robert Tanton, said housing stress contributed most to the final wellbeing ranking of geographic areas, indicating the importance of this in terms of wellbeing for older people.

"We would all hope to own our own home by the time we are 65, but for many people this will not be the case. Those who are still paying rent are doing so with government benefits, leaving little else to live on if they are living in high-rent capital cities," Prof Tanton said.

The study produced online maps that show the geographic patterns of wellbeing in each state and territory and capital cities, and adds further weight to international evidence that there is a wellbeing divide emerging among older Australians.

A recent OECD report found that 36 per cent of Australian pensioners lived below the poverty line, ranking us second lowest on social equity out of 34 countries.

"Areas with the lowest levels of wellbeing were in the outskirts of capital cities and some regional areas although, generally, older people in areas of regional Australia experienced higher wellbeing. Areas with the highest wellbeing tended to be inner urban areas," Prof Tanton said.

"Older people with low wellbeing as measured by this index have low incomes, low education, use the age pension as their main source of income, have low fluency in English, no access to a car, are still paying a mortgage, rent, or are living in public housing," he said.

Dr Nowlan said the Index will fill a critical gap in information about the wellbeing of older people, and help policy makers and service providers to identify where older people experiencing low wellbeing live, and help guide decisions on what type of policies and services are needed and where they should go.

"If services and resources are not targeted to the neediest areas at the right time, there is a risk that the disparity between high and low wellbeing of older Australians will become increasingly wider.

"Older Australians make a magnificent contribution to the diversity and welfare of our society. We need policy solutions to address the real challenges, like ensuring older people have secure and affordable housing and providing supports in communities to make them as age-friendly as possible so that seniors can have the best possible quality of life," Dr Nowlan said.

Council on the Aged NSW Chief Executive Ian Day said one important fact the Index missed out was that the housing affordability issue was "gendered".

"It's important to understand that this issue is gendered and that the sacrifices many women make investing years of their lives in unpaid care goes on to place them at a disadvantage when facing outside pressures like the current housing affordability crisis," he said.

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