Renting in retirement: The hidden toll on your health and life expectancy

The great Australian dream was to own your own home and live comfortably in retirement. Yet, often life challenges such as illness, death or disability can make that impossible for many Australians.

Though many of us think renting into retirement might be disappointing, it could also adversely impact your mental and physical health and shorten your life expectancy.

That’s the warning from researchers at the University of Wollongong (UOW) who are urgently calling for better housing strategies after their study into housing and health found older renters had a shorter life span than homeowners the same age by at least two years, while older women in rental accommodation were significantly worse of than older male renters.

Lead researcher, Dr Kim Kiely said the study findings were significant because it underscored the importance of housing stability and affordability for health and well-being as we age and explained that it highlighted, “a critical public health issue that needs to be addressed.”

“Older adults express a desire to live in their own home and local community in their later years for as long as possible,” Dr Kiely said.

“Our findings point to a need for policies that address health disparities linked to home ownership.”

The research team looked at data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey for their study and followed participants for 14 years.

The HILDA Survey is a household-based study that collects information about economic and personal wellbeing, labour market dynamics and family life.

Dr Kiely said the team defined health in terms of limitations in everyday mobility and activities such as being unable to walk up stairs, carry groceries, get dressed, and bathe.

The team then used the data to estimate a health expectancy, which divides life expectancy into years lived in good health and poor health.

“What we discovered was that from the age of 65 the life expectancy of renters was 2.3 years shorter than owner occupiers,” Kiely said.

“Male renters had 1.8 fewer years lived in good health and female renters had 3.1 fewer years lived in good health. We found women renters also had more years lived in poor health than women who lived in their own home.

“Inequalities were greater for women than for men. This supports growing concerns for precarious housing arrangements for many single women as they age.”

The researchers’ analysis made sure they accounted for earlier life circumstances and factors, such as income and social protection, job security and education, that influence housing and health in later life.

Dr Kiely said there is a need for policies addressing potential health gaps linked to housing insecurity as  fewer younger Australians will own their own homes.

“We need to see more policies that involve the provision of secure, affordable and safe housing that enables people to remain engaged and connected in their community as they age,” Dr Kiely said.

“This can help reduce burden on the health and care systems.”

This backs up previous research that found people living in their own homes in a supported environment like retirement villages lived longer and healthier lives than those outside this housing model.

That is according to a new study by the International Longevity Centre which residents at the Whiteley Village to determine whether retirement village residents were living longer than the national average.

According to a report published about the study, female residents who moved to the village between the ages of 65 and 69 received a “substantial boost to their longevity” compared to the wider population.

In fact, the study founds that at one point in time, female residents at the village were, on average, living for almost five years longer than the national average life expectancy.

While the study didn’t find “sufficient statistical evidence” to say male residents were living longer than the national average, there was “certainly evidence that the majority lived at least as long on average”.

“Being a resident in Whiteley seems to nullify the usual higher mortality rates experienced by members of the lower socioeconomic classes,” the report states.

“The only exception to the improvements in the expected mortality rates was for the shortest lived males. However, the report postulates that such males had made lifestyle choices (e.g. smoking) that had led to underlying health impairments which could not be fully mitigated by the benefits achieved through the social interaction and on-site health support provided by Whiteley.”

The report conclude that retirement villages could actually help governments reduce the inequality in life expectancy in lower socio-economic groups.

International Longevity Centre UK chief executive Baroness Sally Greengross said the residential care sector was responding to the needs of the rapidly ageing society.

“I hope that policymakers and the social care sector can take heart in knowing that, whilst socio-economic inequalities in life expectancy sadly still exist, the right housing with care community might be able to ameliorate the effects of deprivation and address those inequalities in later life,” she said.