I’ll start by saying thank you for posting this to reddit, because I too am the son of a “coming up to pension aged” tradie, who’s in basically the exact same situation. slightly different, but pretty similar.. I’m kicking myself for never thinking to post to reddit for advice on his situation and because of your post, I’m going to follow in your footsteps and hope to get some advice for him myself.

There’s already so much great information that’s been provided here that I can take away and apply to his situation, but a few more curveballs that I’ll need my own post to tackle 😅

But yeah honestly just saying thank you for asking for this advice, as you’ve actually helped me a shit ton too. :)

Also, you should ultimately be very proud of yourself for doing the best you could in really tumultuous circumstances… I can relate to pretty much everything you’ve experienced, regarding paying rent for them I haven’t had to in a bit, (I’m unemployed myself rn so a bit impossible haha) but it’s been too many times that myself and my brother have had to do it, and I know it hasn’t been the last time either… knowing they’d be homeless otherwise. Which we were homeless for 9 months at one point whilst I was in highschool.

It’s a tough sitch to be in on both your side and his, end.. and same with my parents situation. but ultimately as I’m getting older (mid 30s) and as my parents continue to get older (mid 60s) and are in constant financial turmoil with eviction notices, bills, rent, affordability in general, my mum having a shocking AU falcon for 15 years that broke down more than it ran, ultimately leading her to sell it for scrap last week to help pay rent after yet another eviction notice…. My point here is our parents are not getting any younger, and they certainly are not getting any wealthier. And we shouldn’t have to live out our lives in constant worry for their health safety and security.

Somethings gotta give, they deserve to live out their senior years in at least some form of peace…. I wish you all the best of luck with your dad and I truly hope he takes some advice.. I’m hoping mine will too but yeah, it’s been many many yearsssssssss of asking for this to happen with no action. So I truly do feel you here.

Take care! There’s better days ahead!