Seniors Housing Forum - Crisis or
Opportunity
Beyond Retirement Villages
29 May 2012
Kenny Annand, Principal Consultant, KGA Consulting Group
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Why are Seniors becoming a concern?
• Baby boom cohort now ageing
• By 2056, over 25% of Australians will be over 65 years of age
• Metropolitan Perth
–
13.2% over age of 65 and over in 2006
–
+121.1% population growth to 2051
–
+236.7% growth in group over 65 to 25.4% of population
–
375.0% increase in prevalence of dementia to 109,000 (23,000
in 2010)
• People are living longer
• Prolonged periods with frailty and disability
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Some Common Misunderstandings:
• Most older people live in some type of cared
accommodation
• When we get older we are frail and
incapacitated
• We need specialised accommodation in which
we all need to live
• Old people want to be separated from
the rest of their community
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Some Common Misunderstandings:
• The majority of older Australians (in 2006 92%)
live in private dwellings living as members of
family, group or lone-person households
• Only 8% were usual residents in:
• non-private dwellings, which include hotels, motels,
guest houses, and
• cared accommodation such as hospitals, aged care
homes and supported accommodation offered by
some retirement villages.
• The rest live in the mainstream community
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Some Common Misunderstandings:
•
•
•
•
Not talking about a single homogenous group
Seniors are not different – they are just older
Being frail is not the same as being ill
Not all baby boomers are wealthy – most are “asset
rich, cash poor”
• Major asset is the family home
• 75% receive some form of pension
• Seniors are still active and capable of contributing
to society
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Seniors’ requirements of
their city are little different
to every other
age group
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Seniors’ requirements of their city :
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•
•
•
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Mainstream community inclusion
Strong desire to remain independent at home
Only 5 - 7% move to retirement villages
Require provision of services not facilities
“Age in Place” – remaining at home and in their
community
• Only 4% require intensive nursing home care
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Seniors’ requirements of their city :
• Housing requirements in later stages of life are not
dissimilar to those required in early stages of the family
life-cycle:
•
•
•
smaller,
affordable,
easy to maintain
• In later years, adults have built a quality of life that they
want to maintain in their downsized housing options
• Different stage of the cycle
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FAMILY LIFE CYCLE
HOUSING
Single
Couple
Family
Single
Couple
Single
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Empty Nesters –
usually active and
fully independent
Spouse dies and in
time dependency
grows
Apartment or
Small House
Single
Small House
Couple
Large House
Family
Small House
Couple
Apartment or
Small House
Single
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Seniors’ requirements of their city :
As well as housing issues:
• Mobility becomes more of an issue
• Seniors rely more on public (community) transport
• Recommended distances to services – 400m
• Want reasonable access to:
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•
•
•
Shops
Medical facilities
Libraries
Social centres
• Keep in contact with friends and social activities
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Importance of location
and neighbourhood to
foster Community ties
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“Positive ageing seeks
greater inclusion of older
people in mainstream
community life rather than
deal with them as a separate
group where needs are
different, and possibly even
incompatible, with those of
the broader community ”
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Do we offer today
what is needed
for tomorrow?
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Segregated Communities:
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Birth of the Retirement Community:
• General thought is that fear increases with age
• Seniors tend to live alone therefore there is a
higher awareness of their vulnerability
• Less people living in a household the less
defensible the space becomes
• Segregated (gated) communities developed a
certain appeal:
•
•
•
providing security and companionship
providing area seniors feel is “theirs”
removed from the mainstream community
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Gated Communities:
Though they are called communities :
• “there is no evidence to suggest that social capital [people's
sense of trust and inclination to do things for each other -things that characterise successful communities] is any higher
within them than other forms of residential development”.
• “they are spatially a type of enclave, they are more likely to
have negative contributions to the overall social capital of the
broader community”
• “the dilemma seems to be one between personal security in
the face of social breakdown and an almost feral youth
culture. gated communities exist only for those who can afford
them”.
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Typical segregated
community
• Gated community
• Distant from
amenities
• Rows of conjoined
houses
• Poor urban plan
• Care facility on site
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Semi-integrated
community
• Open community
• Still distant from
amenities
• Individualised,
separate houses
• Good urban plan
• Care facility on site
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Integration or Segregation?
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Integration or Segregation?
• Housing developments for seniors can, and most
believe should, be integrated into the broader
community.
• There are many thoughts on the strengths and
weaknesses of integration however the overall
view is that integration should be encouraged.
• The concept of walled and gated ‘aged
segregated communities’ is not regarded as good
urban design or social policy.
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Research - Space, Privacy, Freedom:
• Older Australians believe what is currently being
provided for them is not what they want 1
• They want to remain in their current communities 1
• Housing options need to be developed to meet
these needs 1
• Potential retirement village clients wanted “space,
privacy and freedom” 2
• Saw their housing move as downsizing rather than
segregation 2
1 – Flinders University
2 – Brightwater Care Group
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Overwhelming majority of older Australians desire :• Housing that is located within the broader community
• Rooted in the neighbourhood and the community in which
they have spent their lives.
• Affordable and provides an opportunity to live well, even if a
person’s resources are modest
• Appropriately designed in that the housing provides a sense of
internal space
• Provides security, but also enables a sense of neighbourliness
and encourages social interaction
• Is accessible to public transport, and particularly general
practitioners, post offices, shops and hairdressers
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Housing models they desired were
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Small lot style houses
Comparable to project homes
Choice of home styles
Smaller blocks for easier maintenance (200m2)
Up to 3 bed plus study
No common walls
Double garages
Two toilets/bathrooms
Generous mobility
Adaptive features
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Care Facility
“Club House”
Fully integrated development
• Open community
• Still distant from amenities
• Individualised, separate
houses
• Small cluster groupings
• Intergenerational
community
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Unit Clusters
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Plan in areas where seniors already live
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Identify small lot development opportunities
With lot sizes ranging from 200-400m2 or less, provision of this size of lot,
accompanied by appropriately designed housing product would provide a means
for current ageing residents to “downsize” while remaining in their community.
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Work with developers to locate small lots in appropriate locations
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Work with developers to locate small lots in appropriate locations
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Work with developers to locate small lots in appropriate locations
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Cottage lots a quality alternative
While these may have a general appeal they can be particularly attractive to older
people looking to downsize.
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Cottage lots a quality alternative
Unfortunately, builders, when designing these homes, do not think about the
implications these designs have on seniors and therefore unintentionally introduce
barriers, such as standard door widths, door steps, standard corridor widths, limited
mobility, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms and lipped recesses for the shower.
While the appeal may be there for older people, these barriers become an
impediment as frailty increases and may result in the older person having to move
again at a later stage of life.
While ideally all homes should be designed to limit these impediments, certainly small
lot designs should be specifically targeted as having to meet the needs of Universal
Design building standards.
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Adaptive features
Universally designed:
A universally designed home generally avoids barriers that may discriminate against
people living in or visiting the home
Universal housing is designed to be useable by most people over their lifetime
without the need for major adaptation or specialised design.
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12 Universal design guidelines:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
Direct access
Space for car parking
Wide front door
Wide internal doors
Wide corridors
Main facilities on the ground level
Circulation space in the living room
Space in the bedroom
Bathroom designed for easy and independent access
Enough space in the kitchen
Enough space in the laundry
Low window sills
Design all future homes this way
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If development space is an issue…………….
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Or even…………….
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Creating Communities
for our Seniors
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Create communities for our seniors:
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Mixture of housing options
Mixture of affordability's
Small group comfort
Integrate with amenities
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•
•
•
Casual socialisation rather than
organised activity
Close to and accessible to important
amenities
Business as usual 
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Apartments and High Rise
•
•
•
•
•
Apartments for Life?
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Egress and safety
Parking
Overlooking
Adaptability
Loneliness
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Inner City Living
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Other Options?
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Intentional communities
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Cohousing communities
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Pocket Neighbourhoods
• compromise between
cohousing and
conventional
suburban living
• have more privacy
and less common
property than a
cohousing community
• homes are still
organised in a way to
encourage community
interaction
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Sheltered Housing (Ireland)
• Self contained
apartments
• Caretaker on site
• Call bells
• Adaptability
• Security and
companionship
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Sheltered Housing (UK)
•
•
•
•
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Self contained apartments
Caretaker on site
Call bells
Adaptability
Security and companionship
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Extra Care Housing (UK)
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“Green House” (USA)
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Affordability?
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Affordability
Without sufficient stock of appropriate and
affordable housing there will be a crisis in aged
support and care, as such housing is critical to
both older people’s welfare and quality of life
has a major impact on the capacity of other
support and care services to deliver effective
outcomes. (COTA Australia)
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Affordability
• Availability and affordability of rental accommodation are
major influences on whether they can age in their
communities or need to move into residential care
• Older Australians who rent tend to have less security of
tenure and less wealth than home owners
• The provision of affordable housing which facilitates both
independent living and the delivery of home based care for
older Australians who have insecure tenure is thus a
priority.
• Evidence suggests more support for housing and rental
assistance will be needed to meet significant demand
pressures
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Accessory Dwelling Units
• An ideal form of compact living
• Affordable Housing Option
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Garage Apartments
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“Granny Flats”
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“Granny Flats”
• Multiple dwellings
• Separate entries and living spaces
• Proximity allows families to
support each other
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Financing Options
• Baby Boomers will resist Life Lease financing
arrangements.
• Used to owning their own home.
• Green title or Strata options
• Retain capital growth as part of their investment
• Reverse mortgage possibility to pay for services
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Virtual Villages?
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Virtual Communities
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Virtual Communities
Ashby Village
• Part of a growing movement of Villages in various
stages of development
• Great majority of Americans want to remain in their
own homes as they age
• Currently few resources to make that possible for most
people
• Village concept is that a community of people can pool
resources by paying membership dues and
volunteering their skills and time to support the
Village infrastructure and to assist one another
• Aware of the fact that we may increasingly need
assistance and support
• Membership in the Village provides a wide array of
supportive resources
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Virtual Communities
"We've grown up in a time when we were really able to, and
demanded, the ability to be in charge of our own lives."
"Just because one is becoming older or retiring from a lifelong
career or even an encore career... it doesn't necessarily
diminish the importance of home, family, and community."
"We're building community, we're building connections..."
"This is just the beginning."
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In summary.......
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The Dynamic challenge:
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The Static Dilemma:
• Many Town Planners and Urban Designers think of cities as
static entities
• They think of our cities as environments comprising a series
of lines on paper, tied up with:
• Structure Plans,
• Town Planning Schemes,
• R Codes and set-backs
• The challenge for public officials is to find ways to allow
neighbourhoods to evolve
• To allow communities to meet the need of residents
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The Static Dilemma:
• Our cities and communities must be dynamic
• They must respond to changing demands and conditions.
• Current planning practices respond poorly to changing
demands
• They assume that factors such as land use density and mix
should remain fixed in existing neighbourhood
configurations.
• “Ownership” becomes a barrier to change
• The challenge for public officials is to find ways to allow
neighbourhoods to evolve
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The Static Dilemma:
• Older homeowners generally do not want to move
• Easier to stay put than move
• Emotional investment
• Financial barriers
• Physical and psychological resources
• People need to be educated about
• Benefits of moving early if current home is not ideal
• What to anticipate (and demand) in community and housing
design for later life
• Currently sold on housing models that exist but are not
popular
• Need seniors to be more vocal about what they really want
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Opportunities
• Golden opportunities for mixed use development
• Concept of integrated communities
• Good community consultation required –
• Not very good at this
• Often pay lip service
• Input sought “after the fact”
• Get communities to “plan their communities” before
committing to a planning scheme “faite accompli”
• Universal design meets the needs of the whole
community
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Build community for all,
seniors will “fit in”
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