Rising rents main cause of distress for elderly, says charity

Half of all calls Alone received in 2014 were related to homelessness or housing, the charity has said.

The principal cause of distress for elderly people was rising rents, Alone’s chief executive Seán Moynihan has stated.

The number of older people contacting their service who are worried about housing has risen from 29 per cent in 2010 to more than 50 per cent last year.

Alone’s support co-ordination team carried out 1,321 interventions in relation to housing in 2014.

“A large portion of those coming to us for support have been living in the private rental market for many years and now their landlords are increasing the rent making them unable to afford their homes,” Mr Moynihan said.

Alone has called on the Government to make a proportion of its social housing available for elderly people and has started a petition to promote its campaign “homeless in all but name”.

Mr Moynihan added: “We need to do better by our older people. The private rental market is simply not suitable for older people as many will have support needs as they age.

“If the government is serious about supporting older people to remain living in the community, we need to plan for suitable housing with supports.

“There should be a detailed housing strategy for our ageing population with the number of social housing units ring-fenced, mirroring the population in each council area.”

In its annual report, Alone stated that a third of its revenues of €1.28 million was generated through legacies.

It has 178 volunteers and the total number of hours volunteers have contributed is estimated at 15,440.