How do retired people pay for privately rented properties?

[Afternooninthepark]

Before I start I know I ABU for worrying about my grown sister but the truth is I am genuinely concerned about her situation.
Dsis and her partner are both mid 40’s and on an average wage (she earns more than him). They have had many opportunities to purchase a small property in the past but her partner has never been that keen and prefers to rent everything (they rent their home, car, tv, phones, fridge/freezer, oven etc!) so basically, virtually everything in their possession is rented!
I don’t know if they have private pensions but if they do they will be minimal and they have minimal/next to no savings.
I keep telling them that it’s not too late for them to purchase a small property (they have no dc together so wouldn’t need a large place).
There are lots of new builds in our area with help to buy and my parents would lend/give them some deposit money,
Although dsis seems interested her partner is not so much.
I really worry they are going to miss this opportunity and will need to continue to find rent money all the way into their retirement.
What do people in this position do?
Apologies for my naivety but I don’t know any pensioners in private rented houses so have know idea what will happen when dsis hits retirement age if she is still privately renting?
Does anyone have any experience of this?

Why not include (basic) housing in that category of things which are publicly funded because they benefit society as a whole?
This is what social housing was intended to be. We need to build social housing on a massive scale to provide people with secure affordable accommodation instead of being at the mercy of the private housing market.

So if they have no savings how do you expect them to be able to buy?

Stamp duty moving costs solicitors fees......

Social housing was meant to provide that but so much of it was sold off. That is when housing really started to become an issue. I don’t think I got the best life lessons from my parents (in many areas!). My GPs bought them a house back in the early 70s, I think it cost 12k!

A few years later they had a very acrimonious divorce and apparently a lot of debt had been secured on the house so they lost it all. Whereas I saw most of my other family members in council houses that they lived in until they died. So to me owning did not equal security, because it could be taken away from you. Maybe OPs sister partner had a similar experience?

We were left homeless and my mum was too “proud” to go to the council so we had to live on friends couches and shitty little rentals till we got kicked out at age 16. You can bet when I was offered a council place I couldn’t say yes quickly enough! However my DSis unfortunately inherited our mums attitude, when her marriage broke down she went into private rental (she had 2 young DC and it was many years ago so she would have been housed by the council). Fast forward a few years and she’s now living with a man she doesn’t really want to be with any more but she knows that alone she can only afford the tiniest of shoe boxes (her last place didn’t even have room for a proper cooker in the kitchen) and the man she is with has a nice home. She’s always worked and doesn’t live in an expensive area either. But she’s low paid. So right now even renting is beyond her, let alone buying. It’s tough for her and she’s mid 40s now.

We can’t undo the damage that has been done, so how society can move forward I don’t know. I can only see it getting worse.

Purplelila2 my parents have offered to give them money for the deposit etc.