Elderly rights groups criticise ESRI housing report

Elder-rights groups have criticised an ESRI report on Housing and Ireland's Older Population, claiming it is "punishing older people" for a lack of social housing options.

The report, which used data from interviews with 8,000 over-50s conducted as part of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (Tilda), found there was limited scope for alleviating the housing shortage through incentivising older people to move out of houses that were too big for their needs.

It said such scope to achieve greater availability of housing especially applied where larger properties of seven or more rooms were occupied by older couples.

The suggestion elicited strong reactions from advocacy groups, who said the report ignored the lack of housing options for older people.

"We are very concerned by the suggestions in this report from the ESRI," said Alone chief executive Sean Moynihan.

No solutions

“The report is titled

Housing and Ireland’s Older Population

but it contains no solutions for older people, and appears to be punishing older people for the lack of social housing provided by the Government.”

The report found that just under 20 per cent of those in the 50-59 age group lived alone, compared with 63 per cent of people aged over 80 living on their own.

Alone says it is intimately aware of housing issues facing that demographic, and dealt with a 290 per cent increase in housing applicants from the end of 2013 to 2015.

“It is dangerous to suggest that older people should give up their homes without any plans to build one- or two-bed units locally for them.

“We believe that this suggestion by the ESRI could work in select cases but only with long-term planning from the Government and in consultation with older people,” said Alone.

The report does stress the need to balance greater availability of housing against the dangers of social isolation among older age groups, but Age Action Ireland says it ignores an inherent lack of choice in the current market for its service users.

"There is an enormous lack of step-down and sheltered housing options for older people in Ireland compared to what is available to our European neighbours," said Age Action head of advocacy Justin Moran.