People who experience homelessness and housing insecurity often face long-term challenges to daily living, including exposure to violence, poor living conditions and chronic stress. Over time, these experiences can lead to earlier onset of age-related conditions – such as frailty – and the need for aged care (Gordon et al. 2025; Mantell et al. 2023).

In Australia, the Aged Care Act 2024 commenced in November 2025, replacing the Aged Care Act 1997. The Act introduced a number of changes to improve access, quality and accountability in aged care. One key change is younger access to aged care assessments for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, who may now be assessed from age 50. See My Aged Care for more information on eligibility criteria (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing 2025).

Specialist homelessness services (SHS) support people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. In March 2026 (latest preliminary data), SHS agencies supported around 17,300 clients who were aged 50 or older and either at risk of or experiencing homelessness (Figure 1). For a summary of the broader evidence on older SHS clients, see Older clients.

This article briefly describes the changes to aged care legislation and the characteristics of older people who access SHS support. 

Aged care in Australia

Royal Commission into Aged Care

In 2018, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was established to inquire into the quality of aged care services in Australia, whether those services were meeting the needs of the community, and how they could be improved in the future. 

The Royal Commission identified widespread areas within the aged care system that warranted change. These included issues affecting older people experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness, such as: 

  • aged care programs being provider-focused rather than person-centred
  • unequal access to care.

The Royal Commission concluded that the Aged Care Act 1997 was no longer fit for purpose and recommended fundamental reform to the aged care system, starting with a new Act. For more information, see the Final Report (Royal Commission 2021).

Aged Care Act 2024

The Aged Care Act 2024 commenced in November 2025. Consultation with older people, families, providers, researchers and other stakeholders informed the development of the Act. See the Consultation feedback report for details.

The new Act introduced reforms to improve access, quality and accountability in aged care. Key changes include:

For more information, see About the new rights-based Aged Care Act (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing 2025).

Earlier access for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness

One objective of the reforms is to reduce the number of younger people entering residential aged care (see Younger people in residential aged care). This supports younger people, including those with disability, to receive age-appropriate care.

At the same time, the Act recognises that some groups of people could benefit from earlier access to aged care, due to life experiences that lead to premature ageing. People experiencing or at risk of homelessness are recognised as one of these groups.

To reflect this, the Act sets clear age eligibility thresholds for an aged care needs assessment:

  • age 65 for the general population
  • age 50 for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness 
  • age 50 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people.

Previously, people generally needed to be aged 65 or over to receive aged care, and some disadvantaged groups could access it at younger ages. However, age thresholds were not defined under the previous Act. By setting eligibility ages in legislation, the new Act makes it clearer who can apply for an aged care needs assessment.

For more information about the impacts of homelessness on health and ageing, see Health of people experiencing homelessness.

Older specialist homelessness services clients

Specialist homelessness services (SHS) provide support to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness and can be the first contact point for older people requiring assistance. Support can range from short-term accommodation to specialist services such as counselling. Older SHS clients may receive help to apply for government services such as aged care and access services specific for people who are older and experiencing homelessness.

Data from the Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (SHSC) provide insights into the number and characteristics of SHS clients who may be eligible to apply for an aged care assessment under the new Aged Care Act.

Number and characteristics of SHS clients aged 50 and over

During March 2026, SHS agencies across Australia supported around 17,300 clients aged 50 or over, around (Figure 1, AIHW 2026a):

  • 54% (9,400) were female
  • 46% (8,000) were male
  • 53% (9,200) were at risk of homelessness
  • 42% (7,400) were experiencing homelessness.  

Figure 1. SHS clients aged 50 or over by sex, homelessness status and age group, March 2018 to March 2026

Line chart showing the number of SHS clients aged 50 and over increased from 11,231 in March 2018 to 17,321 in March 2026. Increases are observed across both age and sex categories, and both those experiencing and those at risk of homelessness.

Homelessness status
Age group

Source: AIHW Specialist Homelessness Services Collection, monthly data (AIHW 2026a).

Females tended to be more at risk of homelessness (60%) than experiencing homelessness (36%), while homelessness was more common among males (46% at risk of homelessness; 50% experiencing homelessness). 

In the 8-year period from March 2018 to March 2026, the number of SHS clients aged 50 or above who receive support each month increased by around 54% (from around 11,200 to 17,300). The rate of increase has been faster among people experiencing homelessness – particularly females – with numbers almost doubling in the 8-year period (Figure 1). 

Increasing numbers of older SHS clients partly reflects Australia’s ageing population. However, based on ABS estimates, the total number of Australians aged 50 and over increased by only 18% in the same period: from 8.4 million in 2018 to 10 million (projected) in 2026 (ABS 2025). 

For technical details about monthly SHS data, see Notes about interpreting the data. 

Housing situation and outcomes

Throughout the 2024–25 financial year, around 36,300 clients aged 50 and over completed an SHS support period. (Note: financial year SHS data is sourced from AIHW 2025). When clients first presented for support, around:

  • 1 in 3 (12,400 clients) were living in private or other housing
  • 1 in 6 (6,300 clients) were living in public or community housing
  • 1 in 6 (5,700 clients) were rough sleeping.

SHS assisted many clients to progress towards stable housing. By the end of clients’ last support period of the 2024–25 financial year, among clients aged 50 and over:

  • the number in public or community housing had increased (to 9,200 clients, or 1 in 4)
  • the number rough sleeping had decreased (to 3,800 clients, or 1 in 10).

In 2024–25, few SHS clients aged 50 and over with a closed support period in the year resided in an aged care facility. Around 90 clients began support in an aged care facility, increasing to 200 by the end of support. The majority (8 in 10) of those who ended support in an aged care facility were aged 65 or over.

Main reasons for seeking support

The main reason older people require SHS support varies from person to person. Based on clients’ experiences over a financial year, the most common main reasons SHS clients aged 50 and over sought assistance in 2024–25 were (Figure 2):

  • experiencing a housing crisis such as eviction (21%)
  • financial difficulties (14%)
  • inadequate or inappropriate dwelling conditions (14%)

Housing affordability stress has become more common, with around 1 in 10 (11%) seeking support mainly for this reason in 2024–25 – an increase from 6% in 2016–17.

Among SHS clients aged 50 and over in 2024–25, females were more likely than males to have reported family and domestic violence (FDV) as their main reason for seeking assistance (23% compared with 2%) (Figure 2). The proportion of females reporting FDV as their main reason for seeking assistance has decreased over time, from around 1 in 3 (33%) in 2016–17.

Figure 2. SHS clients aged 50 and over by selected main reasons for seeking assistance, sex and age group, 2016–17 to 2024–25

Line chart showing that a housing crisis (such as eviction) was the most common main reason SHS clients aged 50 and over sought assistance, while housing affordability stress has been becoming increasingly common.

Line chart showing that a housing crisis (such as eviction) was the most common main reason SHS clients aged 50 and over sought assistance, while housing affordability stress has been becoming increasingly common.


New and returning clients

The needs and characteristics of SHS clients aged 50 and above may also depend on whether they are new to services (new clients since July 2011) or have accessed services before (returning clients). 

In 2024–25, when comparing SHS clients aged 50 and over based on new or returning client status, new clients:

  • tended to be older – around half were aged 60 and over, compared with just over 1 in 3 returning clients. 
  • more commonly reported FDV as a main reason for seeking support – particularly females aged 50–54 (34%).
  • more commonly reported Housing crisis (e.g. eviction) as a main reason for seeking support – particularly males aged 65 and over (30%).

Data integration opportunities

The data presented in this article provide evidence that older people experience diverse pathways into homelessness and housing insecurity (for a research summary, see Older clients). These pathways may correspond to specific aged care needs among this population, including those older people who might need assistance to remain housed and access care at home, while others may need help to apply for, or transition to, an appropriate residential aged care facility.

Understanding these pathways and needs can enable governments and service providers to plan and allocate resources accordingly. However, doing so relies on evidence about how people navigate through various service systems.

The National Aged Care Data Asset (NACDA) brings together de-identified person-level data collected across aged care, health and community service settings. It is an enduring asset, meaning data will be updated regularly and new tables and data sources added over time.

Integrating the SHSC with the NACDA via the AIHW’s linkage system (National Health Data Hub) would allow for in-depth analysis of older people who receive, or require, both housing-related assistance and aged care, including:

  • the types of housing and aged care support received
  • patterns of service use across systems
  • outcomes associated with different service pathways.

Data integration of these two comprehensive datasets may enable stronger evidence to better inform policy and program design for older people who experience housing insecurity, particularly those ageing into aged care eligibility.