Private rental model will see number of older homeless people increase - Alone

The current private rental model will see a "dramatic increase" in the number of older homeless people in the future unless it is reformed, an Oireachtas committee will be told tomorrow.

Alone, the older person’s support group, will tell the Oireachtas housing committee on Tuesday that on average 20.5 per cent of people they support have housing issues.

It will warn that the private sector rental model will “not fully serve the community nor the needs of older people” and that for renters “there are more barriers and fewer choices available”.

“If we continue to rely on the model as it stands today, with greater numbers renting into older age, we will see a dramatic increase in the older people homeless numbers support needs among this age group,” the non-governmental organisation will say.

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While so-called cost rental models will ease the pressure, they are not sufficient to solve the problem “on the scale or within the timeframe needed”.

According to CSO figures, 2.4 per cent of the over 65s and 10 per cent of people between 50 and 54 are renting from private landlords, and it is anticipated to grown. Alone is calling for the committee to ensure that government policy statements and implementation plans dating to 2019 be updated and reviewed on a regular basis.

It is also calling for housing adaptation grants, designed to support people maintaining their property, be given more funding, citing its own research that €84.5 million is required annually for older people living alone - and that it should cover 100 per cent of the cost of works, rather than 95 per cent as is currently the case.

Supports to help older people right-size their accommodation should be encouraged, which would release family homes back into the housing stock. “The way these conversations have [BEEN]approached in the past has not helped this debate,” the committee will be told. Own door housing for older people, with support services on site, should also be encouraged.

The Department of Health will tell the committee that the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS), or Fair Deal, is set to be reformed, with an amendment in the works to reduce a disincentive for for participants in the scheme to rent out their home. It would reduce the rate of assessment on rental income from the home to 40 per cent, from its current level of 80 per cent.

The Department of Housing will say that the number of people over 65 is expected to reach 1.4 million by 2040 - or about 23 per cent of the population, with “considerable” impacts across a wide variety of public policy areas.

Age Action will tell the committee that while many older people currently own their own home, there are barriers that prevent them from staying there, or if they want, from right-sizing. Meanwhile, they often cannot afford home repairs or insulation.