Housing crisis and rising cost of living fuelling spike in elder abuse, helpline warns

The Elder Abuse Prevention Unit Helpline received 2,338 calls about abuse last year up 15.6 per cent and surpassing the record number of calls in the previous year. Pychological, financial and social abuse were the main complaints although it was common for victims to experience more than one type of abuse, including physical, sexual and neglect.

UnitingCare's latest report into elder abuse, the Year in Review, highlights the devastating impacts of elder abuse, with victims often experiencing psychological distress, deterioration in their health, and financial consequences.

In close to two-thirds of cases (65.5 per cent), victims and perpetrators were living together, with victim and perpetrator cohabitation increasing sharply over the past four financial years.

The report shows the proportion of cases in which victims and perpetrators cohabit has increased by 74.2 per cent since 2018.

Meanwhile Legal Aid NSW has reported granny flat arrangements as the most common cause of financial abuse of older people.

Senior solicitor at the Elder Abuse Service, Mary Lovelock, said the granny flat arrangement saw older people often giving significant sums of money to an adult child in return for the promise of care. However, agreements - verbal or written - can be heavily weighed in favour of the child.

"We have had several clients come to us with this issue who are on the verge of homelessness. It can cause significant financial and mental stress for already vulnerable people," she said.

Ms Lovelock said she had also seen financial abuse involving money misappropriated under Powers of Attorney, unpaid loans, property fraudulently transferred and debts fraudulently created in the name of the older person - even money refunded by banks.

The Queensland report identified ageism in almost one-third of abuse cases, while a sense of entitlement to an older relative's assets was identified in close to half the cases (44.2 per cent).

The largest group of victims was aged 80-84 years (21.2 per cent). Females accounted for 69.1 per cent of cases and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were over-represented as victims (4.7 per cent) - almost double the proportion of people aged 50 years and over living in Queensland who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (2.4 per cent).

People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds were under-represented as victims (4.4 per cent).

A large proportion of victims were widowed (34 per cent), which is three times the proportion of people aged 50 and over living in Queensland who are widowed (11.2 per cent).

One-third of victims had impaired capacity and more than half of victims (61 per cent) were reported to have care needs, with only one in five of these victims (20.2 per cent) receiving formal support.

In more than three-quarters of the cases where there was a decision-making arrangement in place, one or more decision makers were alleged to be perpetrating elder abuse.

Luke Lindsay, General Manager of UnitingCare's Wellbeing Services, said while the report is a difficult read, the issue of elder abuse was not something to be ignored.

"Elder abuse is a complex social issue which not only has devastating impacts for the victims, but affects our entire community," he said.

"While this report is distressing, it is an issue we need to unite on, to prevent and stop elder abuse from occurring."

Queensland Seniors Minister Craig Crawford said, "This latest report shows a spike in victims and perpetrators cohabitating as people move back home to live with elderly family.

"We know there are many reasons why co-habitation occurs, but it is vital our elders deserve to live safely, with dignity and respect. What we can take from the increase in reported cases is that our awareness campaigns are working. We are bringing the issue out of the shadows, letting people know there is help and support available and making access to that support possible."

Mr Lindsay said the growing number of victim and perpetrator cohabitation cases was due to combined factors of the housing shortage, higher interest rates, and other cost of living pressures; and was a worrying trend.

"The tough economic climate and the housing crisis continues to present challenges for many people within the community, which unfortunately means that the drivers of increased cohabitation will likely continue in the short-term as more adult children move in with their parents.

"Multi-generational living can be challenging and unfortunately relationships can break down, placing the older person at higher risk of distressing financial, psychological or even physical abuse."

The report noted more victims were fearful of becoming homeless or had already experienced homelessness because of the abuse.

"The data shows that we need longer term solutions to this issue - a focus on supporting access to safe, accessible, and affordable housing for victims of elder abuse is needed," said Mr Lindsay.

Mr Lindsay said in order for real change to occur, the individual, relational, community and societal factors that put older people at risk including ageist attitudes, needed to be addressed.

"This means tackling ageist attitudes, income inequity and the lack of access to aged care support. Our elderly community not only have the right to be safe and free from abuse, but they also deserve to be treated with dignity," he said.

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