{"id":4282,"date":"2025-04-30T05:19:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T05:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.villages.com.au\/?p=4282"},"modified":"2025-04-30T05:23:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T05:23:04","slug":"more-retirement-friendly-policies-could-free-up-59000-homes-for-younger-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.villages.com.au\/retirement\/more-retirement-friendly-policies-could-free-up-59000-homes-for-younger-families\/","title":{"rendered":"More retirement-friendly policies could free up 59,000 homes for younger families"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"4282\" class=\"elementor elementor-4282\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-bfb5444 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"bfb5444\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-a0eed2e\" data-id=\"a0eed2e\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-583a093 elementor-drop-cap-yes elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"583a093\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;drop_cap&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.15.0 - 20-08-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p>O<strong>lder Australians could help ease the housing crisis \u2013 and improve their own quality of life \u2013 if outdated pension rules were reformed, according to a new report by the Retirement Living Council (RLC).<\/strong><\/p><p>The report, <em>Removing Rightsizing Roadblocks<\/em>, highlights how simple changes to government policy could unlock more than 59,000 homes currently held by older homeowners who are reluctant to downsize due to financial penalties.<\/p><p>\u2018Rightsizing\u2019 \u2013 moving from a large family home into a smaller, more manageable place like a retirement village \u2013 is something many older Australians want to do. But strict pension asset limits and limited access to rent assistance are making that move financially unviable for many.<\/p><p>The RLC is now calling on political leaders to commit to two key reforms ahead of this week\u2019s Federal Election on 3 May:<\/p><ul><li><strong>Increase the Age Pension asset threshold<\/strong> for single homeowners from $314,000 to $550,000 (with an equivalent increase for couples), allowing more people to rightsize without losing pension benefits.<\/li><li><strong>Remove the outdated $252,000 purchase cap<\/strong> that prevents retirement village residents from accessing Commonwealth Rent Assistance \u2013 a benefit already available to seniors in other types of housing, like land lease communities.<\/li><\/ul><p>RLC Executive Director Daniel Gannon said these changes could encourage more than 94,000 older Australians to make the move into retirement communities, freeing up tens of thousands of larger homes for growing families.<\/p><p>\u201cRight now, outdated rules are trapping older Australians in homes that no longer suit their needs,\u201d Mr Gannon said.<\/p><p>\u201cThese are people who are asset-rich but income-poor, and are often stuck paying for homes they can\u2019t manage \u2013 while younger families are left struggling to find enough space.\u201d<\/p><p>The report, developed with aged care consultants Ansell Strategic, found the average home that would be released through rightsizing is valued at $825,000, typically featuring three or four bedrooms in outer suburbs \u2013 ideal for family buyers.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-acfe749 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"acfe749\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-7656d96\" data-id=\"7656d96\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f440633 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"f440633\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.15.0 - 20-08-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=\".svg\"]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"602\" height=\"206\" src=\"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture2.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-4287\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture2.png 602w, https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture2-300x103.png 300w, https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture2-600x205.png 600w, https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture2-585x200.png 585w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-f1c5460 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"f1c5460\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-32252b3\" data-id=\"32252b3\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8a2e2e3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"8a2e2e3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The proposed reforms could also deliver nearly $3 billion in additional stamp duty revenue for state governments and reduce pressure on public housing, hospital, and aged care systems.<\/p><p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t just good policy for older Australians \u2013 it\u2019s good for the whole community,\u201d Mr Gannon said.<br \/>\u201cIt\u2019s about creating housing options, freeing up supply, and helping people live in homes that match their stage of life.\u201d<\/p><p>The RLC argues that while the property market has changed dramatically over the past 30 years, government policy has failed to keep up. For instance, while house prices have risen nearly 600% since 1994, pension asset limits have increased by less than 200%.<\/p><p>The cost of modernising rent assistance would be around $244 million per year, the report estimates \u2013 a modest price tag compared to the scale of the housing and aged care challenges Australia faces.<\/p><p>With more than 80,000 people currently waiting for home care packages, the RLC says helping seniors move into better-suited housing could also ease strain on in-home support services.<\/p><p>\u201cThis is a chance to modernise the system and offer older Australians the dignity of choice,\u201d Mr Gannon said.<\/p><p>\u201cWe\u2019re calling on all parties to put this issue on the table before the next election.\u201d<\/p><p>For more information and to read the full report, visit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.retirementliving.org.au\">retirementliving.org.au<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Older Australians could help ease the housing crisis \u2013 and improve their own quality of life \u2013 if outdated pension rules were reformed, according to a new report by the Retirement Living Council (RLC). The report, Removing Rightsizing Roadblocks, highlights how simple changes to government&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retirement"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4282"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4294,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4282\/revisions\/4294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villages.com.au/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}