New Zealand is facing a growing population of homeless older people, warns The Salvation Army in a new report.

The organisation has released new research estimating that by 2030, 200,000 retirement-aged won't own a house and will be unable to afford rent.

Over the next decade, the numbers needing state help to cover their rent was expected to rise considerably: from 35,000 this year to 100,000 by 2025.

LIZ MCDONALD The Salvation Army estimates that by 2030, 200,000 baby boomers won't own a home.

"We risk discovering that New Zealand is going to have a population of homeless pensioners," Salvation Army spokeswoman Sue Hay told Radio New Zealand.

The report says: "Australian housing researchers are reporting increasing incidents of what they term first time homelessness amongst people in their later middle age or early retirement years.

"These are people who have held down jobs and led fairly conventional lives until an event such as relationship breakdown, redundancy, injury or a health setback means that they lose their housing and perhaps income. They become street homeless and destitute."

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The organisation urged the Government to extend its rent subsidies to council property and increase its accommodation supplement, which had been held at the same level since 2007.

"The unwillingness of Government to include local authorities as approved social housing providers which are eligible to receive income related rent subsidies is a clear example of cost saving," the report says.

"This move has had little or no regard for the growing demand for affordable rental accommodation by retiring baby boomers."

It said more aged care facilities such as such as rest homes, geriatric hospitals and dementia care units were also needed.

"Between 2025 and 2030 the numbers of people requiring some form of residential care will grow by more than 20 per cent or by over 2000 people per year perhaps to 57,000 to 58,000 beds by 2030.

"Catering for this demand growth will require an additional 100 bed facility every two and half weeks for these five years."

Labour levelled an attack on the Government's housing strategy, saying it had done "virtually no policy work and no serious thinking" about accommodating baby boomers down the track.

"The country faces the spectre of large numbers of people facing genuine housing hardship in their old age," housing spokesman Phil Twyford said.

"The Government needs to listen up, and put its thinking cap on."

Twyford agreed the Government should extend its rent subsidies to council housing, and do more to increase affordable housing stock.

"Older Kiwis would love to have low-maintenance, secure, one and two-bedroom homes that are close to the shops, designed for mobility access, and most of all affordable. But those kinds of homes are simply not being built in any numbers."

Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett said the Government welcomed The Salvation Army's report but thought it was "a stretch to say that changing levels of home ownership will equate to an increase in homelessness amongst the elderly".

The Government spent close to $40 million per week on accommodation support for low and modest income people and was "focused on increasing the supply of social housing to house more people in need". This included more one and two bedroom properties, which were increasing in demand, Bennett said.

Extending the rent subsidy to councils "does not house a single more person or family", she said.

However, as supply grew, the Government "may be able to revisit the current policy".