Wanted: Your thoughts!

AHURI and Ben Soc are calling on aged care, planning, housing and policy experts to attend its upcoming one day symposium.

By Yasmin Noone

Attention all opinionated members of society with a passion for older people, an interest in creating housing solutions and a voice that needs to be heard! 

The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and the Benevolent Society (Ben Soc) wants you to help them tackle the housing and planning challenges of the nation’s ageing population, at its one day symposium in Sydney on Friday 25 February.

The Future housing for older Australians: Overcoming barriers to innovation symposium will bring together aged care, planning, policy and housing experts from the not-for-profit, government and commercial sector, to debate and discuss what needs to be done in order to achieve better housing outcomes for older people.

“Organisations are grappling with the challenges of suitably designed, well located and affordable housing for older people,” said Ben Soc’s general manger of ageing, Barbara Squires.

“We know the answer isn’t in building many more retirement villages on the outskirts of towns and cities but in finding a way of having appropriate housing closer to existing services, community facilities and transport.

“We need people to attend who have got strong views about the changes that are needed and want their voice to be heard, as well as organisations which [need to create] planning ideas for the older population.”

Ms Squires said that the event will identify positive and practical outcomes through context-setting presentations, interactive workshops, facilitated discussions and case studies.

“This symposium will bring the best of the research evidence from AHURI together with the voices of those who are trying to get better housing for older people built.

“During the event, we aim to identify the problems are that we are all facing and see some ways forward to over come problems.

“If we don’t solve some of these problems, we are in danger of finding that housing choice will only be available to those that are quite wealthy and those with lower incomes and assets are going to increasingly find themselves squeezed out, especially in the capital cities.

“This is a really important challenge that we have to face. The better that we can do, as a nation, in making sure that suitable housing is available for all older people, the better use we will be able to make of our increasingly scarce care and health services.”

A keynote address by the director of the AHURI Queensland Research Centre, Professor Andrew Jones, will examine the current housing landscape for ageing Australians and identify obstacles to innovation.

The symposium will run from 9am to 5pm at the SMC Conference & Function Centre, 66 Goulburn Street, Sydney.

To register and receive further details as they become available, visit www.ahuri.edu.au/calendar/day.asp?mvDate=2011-02-25

Tags: ahuri, barbara-squires, ben-soc, housing,

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