Seniors groups have slammed suggestions that older Australians should move out of their homes to make way for younger families as "offensive" and "ludicrous," while pointing out there are many practical reasons why older people stay in the homes they set up decades ago.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
This follows a report released on Monday that found unless older Australians living in inner city Sydney and Melbourne downsized, "they will be occupying much of the existing stock of detached houses" where there will be strong demand from young families.
Census data shows 50 to 60 per cent of freestanding houses in the inner and middle suburbs of the two cities are occupied by Australians aged 50 or over.
While one of the report's authors, Monash University's Bob Birrell, said he was not advocating that older people moved, he added, "they are not making way for younger people".
National Seniors Australia chief executive Michael O'Neill said the idea that older people should move out of their own homes was "offensive".
He said people who had bought their homes decades ago - often in what were in humble areas - and had since worked, saved and paid 18 per cent interest rates in the 1980s to own their homes.
"It's their castle," he said in reference to the hit Australian film.
Mr O'Neill added that there were also significant practical reasons why older people were not leaving the homes they set up 30 or 40 years ago.
He said community links were vital for mental and physical health and it was important for people to be able to continue to access their local doctor, chemist and shops.
If they were "picked up and plonked into a whole new area" they would also lose connections with neighbours, Mr O'Neill said, adding that social isolation was a serious risk as people aged.
Council on the Ageing chief executive Ian Yates agreed there were "good reasons" for people staying in their homes - such as wanting to stay near family and networks and having enough space to care for their grandchildren or garden.
Mr Yates - who described any pressure on older people to move as "ludicrous" - said people also experienced difficulty in finding smaller accommodation in the same area as their family home.
He added there were financial disincentives as well. Along with stamp duty, asset-rich, income-poor older people risked taking a hit to their pension if they sold the family home and were left with more cash, which would be taken into account in assessments for pension eligibility.
Mr Yates said there were "significant numbers" of older Australians who were moving anyway, noting there was an increasing market for townhouses and apartments for older Australians.
But he cautioned policy makers and planners to think more imaginatively about how to create space for young families, noting that in many European cities, for example, children are raised in apartments and then taken to parks to play.
"Have planners thought about a community garden area?" he said.
