What if you have no money to own a home as an Australian Pensioner? Are you housed?

[amibovered]

You MIGHT get housing benefit but you would most certainly have to go through the habitual residents interview etc

i know in the north east a lot of council houses have been taken over by social landlords and unless your classed as homeless there are long lists

Even being classed as homeless is extremely hard especially if you have left Australia to go back to the uk they often see that as making yourself homeless !

Again in the north east there are plenty of private rentals at around £100 to £ 150 a week but if you don't qualify for housing benefit that's a big chunk from a pension

I was offered housing benefit a month after arriving in the UK, just filled in a couple of forms, didn't need it in the end, in fact they paid it when I asked them not to and I paid it back.

[Parley]

It should be pretty much impossible with compulsory superannuation contributed by employers and not able to be accessed until retirement.

 

If someone has never worked and only received the dole or had very low paid work only I suppose it is possible.

But very rare that anyone would have no assets at all and rely totally on government support for everything.

[Patphillips47]

I was offered housing benefit a month after arriving in the UK, just filled in a couple of forms, didn't need it in the end, in fact they paid it when I asked them not to and I paid it back.

Maybe each council is different I worked for a housing association in 2003 and they had benefit advisors the habitual resident interview with Dhss always had to be done to claim any benefit It even applied to a rates rebate in our situation

We had the interview and were told no you can not be classed a resident despite the information we gave them I appealed and we were eventually given residency status

We eventually got a rates rebate but even that was a nightmare as the council offices hadn't a clue !

[Guest Michaela60]

It should be pretty much impossible with compulsory superannuation contributed by employers and not able to be accessed until retirement.

 

If someone has never worked and only received the dole or had very low paid work only I suppose it is possible.

But very rare that anyone would have no assets at all and rely totally on government support for everything.

Super can be accessed well before pension age. Many have no super and no pension

[Parley]

Super can only be accessed upon retirement from the workforce or if certain extreme hardship provisions exist.

 

But if someone really wants to they could spend all their super when they get it on holidays or whatever.

[amibovered]

Maybe each council is different I worked for a housing association in 2003 and they had benefit advisors the habitual resident interview with Dhss always had to be done to claim any benefit It even applied to a rates rebate in our situation

We had the interview and were told no you can not be classed a resident despite the information we gave them I appealed and we were eventually given residency status

We eventually got a rates rebate but even that was a nightmare as the council offices hadn't a clue !

Probably, our local council were very helpful to be honest, mind you it was all supposed to change with " Universal Credit " not sure if that is still happening though.

[starlight7]

The thing with retirement villages is you not only have to pay for the unit but you also have yo pay substantial regular service fees in the majority of them. They are in it for your money, not to assist you. Beware!

[Melbpom]

Assuming you have no assets at all.

But it would be very unusual for any adult to enter retirement with no assets or savings of any kind.

 

I would really wonder why that would be the case for any competent adult.

 

The OP and similar posters appear to be female. Don't forget that it's only 100 years since women have got the vote and while they have got more and more rights and independence over time the fact is that older women would have been very much dependent on a man during their life times.

Take for instance my MIL who would have been a house wife in the fifties and who did the right thing (at the time) by her family and stayed at home. She had no money of her own and was only given pocket money.

Women's rights have progressed in the last century in areas of education, pay, and right to divorce etc but the fact is some women will have been left behind.

[Parley]

This is 2016 Melbpom not the 50's though.

 

Any woman who enters retirement with not a bean to her name has certainly only herself to blame.

Edited October 2, 2016 by parleycross

[Roberta2]

"A Man is Not a Plan". Indeed, I will be telling this to my granddaughters as soon as they are old enough to understand. Just for starters, women in Australia had to resign from the public service when they married. As late as 1966! Public servants in those days

had access to super when few other workers did. There is now a crisis of older women who are homeless. Divorce, mental or physical health problems, domestic violence, just bad luck etc etc. It's disgusting to blame the victims.

[Roberta2]

There are plenty of Baby Boomers like me who will never go into a retirement village because we have seen what has happened to our parents. Mine lost $300,000 over two years.

[Parley]

Women should not think of themselves as victims. That just perpetuates them not planning for their own retirements.

I struggle to see why any woman would have nothing.

 

In the event of divorce the Family Court often gives the woman over 50% of the split recognising their lower capacity to earn.

[Roberta2]

The split of the "asset pool" is rarely less than 55:45. The woman now gets access to hubby's super. But if she has been out of the workforce for decades, her chances of getting a decent paying job are small. The house is often the only significant asset, and has to be sold because neither party can afford to buy out the other. Not hard to see how older women can become homeless. Suggest you look at some of the recent literature on the subject.

[Parley]

So why would that make her homeless ?

She will have money and in a position to rent something as well as have benefits.

As you say she will get half her husband's super on retirement too.

 

I''m sure most women don't want to see themselves as victims and lots get on with life after a divorce and buy a new home too.

[Parley]

Also most divorces are initiated by the woman.

[Roberta2]

According to statistics gathered by the Federal Government’s Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, from 2011-12 to 2013-14 the number of women aged 55 years and over accessing specialist homelessness services increased by 26 per cent. Close to 10,000 older women accessed these services in the last financial year.

–– ADVERTISEMENT ––

 

 

But this only accounts for the women who actually sought help from a homeless support service. A 2014 University of Queensland report commissioned by the Mercy Foundation, indicates homeless older Australian women are “likely to be statistically invisible in data systems” because they aren’t readily countable.

They are usually not sleeping rough, the report says, but instead “are more likely to be staying with friends, living in a car, living under the threat of violence in their home or physically ‘hiding’.”

Felicity Reynolds, CEO of the Mercy Foundation says that while the numbers of homeless older women only represent “six to eight per cent of the total number of people counted as homeless in Australia,” we need to pay attention because this “is a problem that we appear to be at the very beginning of.”

“This should be setting off alarm bells for the policy makers because this is only going to get worse as affordability gets worse,” she says.

Ms Reynolds says women are “paying what some people call the ‘mummy penalty’.”

“They’ve had extended periods of their life out of the paid workforce, and therefore haven’t necessarily acquired savings, haven’t necessarily acquired superannuation and [are] without a partner.

“They’re poor and they’re priced out of the market,” she says.

[Parley]

Okay play the victim card if you wish.

 

But most women in their 50's getting a divorce will be walking away from the marriage with around $1M taking into account split of the home, super and other assets.

[Skani]

This is 2016 Melbpom not the 50's though.

 

Any woman who enters retirement with not a bean to her name has certainly only herself to blame......I struggle to see why any woman would have nothing.

 

In the event of divorce the Family Court often gives the woman over 50% of the split

 

You can't possibly know the financial circumstances of other people.

 

You assume there is a property of value to split. There are many women who are widowed, deserted or legally separated who don't have this, either because the couple were renting or there was very little left after the property was sold and the bank took their share.

Then their income earning is often limited for years afterwards by child care responsibilities. I know women in their mid 40s in this exact situation today. They are renting, working part time because of child care responsibilities, paying limited super - and unable to save anything. Then there can be accidents, chronic illness, caring for a disabled family member or even the full time care of grandchildren which can seriously impact on a person's earning/saving capacity.

 

As mentioned on this thread (and another on this subject) women of pension age now are usually starting way behind the eightball: many were forced to resign on marriage or were expected not to work once married, most had no access to superannuation and when they did work (before marriage) they were paid less than a male for doing exactly the same job. (When I first started with the Commonwealth Public Service in 1973 I was paid 20% less than a male doing the identical job - and the CPS was regarded as the bees knees for employee benefits.)

[Skani]

But most women in their 50's getting a divorce will be walking away from the marriage with around $1M taking into account split of the home, super and other assets.

 

It may be easy to generalise from your cushy part of Melbourne...but this is not the reality for most women in Australia. The most recent of my friends to divorce received the house (worth $350K) but her husband was given her superannuation entitlement. So she has no income apart from the age pension.

[Marisawright]

Okay play the victim card if you wish.

 

But most women in their 50's getting a divorce will be walking away from the marriage with around $1M taking into account split of the home, super and other assets.

 

That would certainly apply to most middle-class women who got married early, bought a house when housing was cheap and lived there for thirty years while the value sky-rocketed. But that's not "most women".

[Parley]

That is not bad Skani.

Owning her own home and receiving the Age Pension is not bad anyway.

My mum managed fine on the pension too as a home owner.

 

But as you know most houses in Australia are worth a hell of a lot more that $350K and with compulsory superannuation well entrenched there are are usually sizeable family asset pools to divide,

 

And yes the vast majority of sepearations and divorces are initiated by the woman.

so she no doubt feels empowered to take that action.

 

Did your friend initiate the divorce like most women seem to ?

[flag of convenience]

Also most divorces are initiated by the woman.

 

Very true. Divorce proceedings are much more likely to be female initiated. Sometimes this is over looked, is this because women throw in the towel earlier, or is it the poor behaviour of some men? Not an easy one to answer, I suppose. I believe neither gender is morally superior with regards this issue. I have heard more women say over the years though that they would never remarry if present partner was no longer on the scene. Perhaps more women have arrived at the realisation, that they don't need a man in their lives to reach fulfilment?

[flag of convenience]

That is not bad Skani.

Owning her own home and receiving the Age Pension is not bad anyway.

My mum managed fine on the pension too as a home owner.

 

But as you know most houses in Australia are worth a hell of a lot more that $350K and with compulsory superannuation well entrenched there are are usually sizeable family asset pools to divide,

 

And yes the vast majority of sepearations and divorces are initiated by the woman.

so she no doubt feels empowered to take that action.

 

Did your friend initiate the divorce like most women seem to ?

 

I wouldn't think it easy 'to manage' fine these days on a pension as sole means of support though. The pension has in no way kept abreast of the cost of living in more modern times. Hence so much aged poverty.

[Parley]

Very true. Divorce proceedings are much more likely to be female initiated. Sometimes this is over looked, is this because women throw in the towel earlier, or is it the poor behaviour of some men? Not an easy one to answer, I suppose. I believe neither gender is morally superior with regards this issue. I have heard more women say over the years though that they would never remarry if present partner was no longer on the scene. Perhaps more women have arrived at the realisation, that they don't need a man in their lives to reach fulfilment?

 

True and I think rising asset values can give women a push to initiate divorce.

[flag of convenience]

True and I think rising asset values can give women a push to initiate divorce.

 

I think, sad to say, there is something in that.