The NSW government has rejected a recommendation to lower its priority age for helping elderly homeless people, after an inquiry heard current policy settings are "cruel".
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More than 70,000 people are without a roof over their head across the state and women are most at risk, an inquiry into homelessness among over 55-year-olds found last year.
Responding to its report on Monday, the Perrottet government supported nine of 40 recommendations, offered in principle support to 24 others and noted the remaining nine.
Despite allegations of cruelty and ageism, those not supported included lowering a limit on access to the Housing Elderly Persons priority group from 80 to 55 and to 45 for Indigenous people.
"It's a cruel policy that would make somebody wait until they were 80 years of age to know they could access a long-term house," CEO of Homelessness NSW Trina Jones told the inquiry.
The policy was also called callous by CEO of Older Women's Network NSW, Yumi Lee, who called having to wait until that age for social housing "ageist" and "inhumane".
The government said any changes to its eligibility criteria would need to be carefully assessed to ensure they did not lead to inadvertent discrimination.
The response was a missed opportunity to address the growing homelessness crisis in NSW, Executive Officer of Housing For the Aged Action Group Fiona York said on Monday.
"We're shocked that after the inquiry found older people in housing crisis were slipping through the cracks, the government would not support the inquiry's recommendations to provide them with additional help," she said.
People without homes in NSW already routinely waited five to 10 years on public housing lists, she added.
The 'face' of homelessness in NSW was increasingly that of older people, particularly women, committee chair and Nationals MP Scott Barrett wrote in his report last year.
"This cohort may not sleep on the streets but may find themselves couch surfing among family and friends, or sleeping in their cars, living in highly precarious situations".
Older people faced many obstacles when trying to break out of the cycle of homelessness and find their own place, head of community housing operations at the Women's Housing Company Christina Hough told the inquiry.
Most people understood the need for providing identification but older people were also required to create new documents including 'home seeker diaries'.
"It's the onerous process where you have to jump through hoops," she said.
The government also declined to support waiving supporting documents, saying it was required to prove eligibility.
"The NSW government will continue to work with clients to assist them to obtain the necessary documentation for proof of their eligibility," according to a statement.
Neither would it support calls to review its home seeker diaries for people needing temporary accommodation.
The government said it would not look to create a similar service to Victoria's Home At Last which supports all low income older people, or investigate targeted rent support for the elderly as similar programs filling these needs were already in place.
Australian Associated Press
