2021-12-13 GC Agenda - Item 8 -Attachment 1 - Housing Needs Assessment

Figure 31 People using Home Care by age and sex, 30 June 2010-2020




Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021 People using aged care.


Of relevance is the fact that while the population has been aging to date the bigger growth has been
in the ages associated with the active retirees. Proportionally residents aged 65-74 years went from
making up 9.3% of Noosa Shire’s population in 2006 to 14.67% of the population in 2016. By
comparison residents aged 85 and over increased from 1.89% to 2.63% in the same decade. There
has been a pattern of very old residents moving away from the Shire to live closer to family or high
end medical facilities. Whether this pattern continues or not is yet to be seen.
Housing for the Aged Action Group is an Australian organisation specialising in the housing needs
of older people. Together with the University of Adelaide and the Wicking Trust, it has developed
“Ageing on the Edge” - The Older Persons Homelessness Prevention Project, culminating with
reports released in March 2020. Its recommendations, specific to Queensland include:
Increase affordable housing supply to meet the needs of a rapidly ageing population in Queensland:
1.    Provide an adequate supply of social housing for an ageing population as part of a long term,
      sustainable housing strategy. This needs to be achieved through significant government
      investment as well as working with the not-for-profit and for profit sectors to utilise innovative
      financing models such as social impact investment bonds and tax incentive schemes.
2.    The Queensland and Federal Governments must act urgently to ensure that there is a large
      scale affordable and social housing supply initiative to replace the National Rental Affordability
      Scheme (NRAS) where the majority of contracts are due to end between 2022-2024. Due to
      the fact approximately 30 per cent of NRAS housing agreements have been developed in
      Queensland this should be a priority for government action.
3.    Develop housing innovations such as new housing concepts and ideas suited to the needs of
      older people such as co-housing and co-sharing, particularly for older women. These housing
      opportunities can provide informal support for those who have experienced the significant
      trauma of housing stress.’
4.    The Queensland Government should seek guidance from Queensland Shelter on their current
      initiative bringing older women and influencers together in a series of workshops to explore
      opportunities for innovative housing projects for older women.


Residential aged care falls under the land use definition of residential care facility which means the
use of premises for supervised accommodation, and medical and other support services, for persons
who:


Noosa Housing Needs Assessment 2021                                                           Page 107