THE Association of Residents of Queensland Retirement Villages celebrated its 25th year in September – celebrations tempered by the look, feel and politics of retirement living.
Long-awaited changes to retirement village legislation have been introduced into state parliament bundled up in the Housing Legislation (Building Better Futures) Amendment Bill 2017.
Retirement village-specific changes are, according to Housing Minister Mick de Brenni, intended to “increase transparency between operators and residents, and provide greater security and confidence to residents, balanced with industry viability”.
The bill tackles another long-running accommodation concern for permanent residents who own manufactured homes in caravan parks, providing greater consumer protection.
However, with its second reading and vote not due until the end of October, an early election call – before 28 October – could put the much-vaunted reforms on the back boiler, at best.
Recommended amendments are now before a parliamentary committee taking submissions from property developers and resident lobbyists.
Retirement village residents want some element of retrospectivity, particularly when it comes to contentious buy-back provisions that have seen elderly residents resorting to bank financing to enable urgent moves from independent living into aged care.
“Retirement village operators are businesses whose primary objective is to make a profit for their shareholders,” said Association of Residents of Queensland Retirement Villages vice-president Michael Fairbairn reasoned.
“To do this, they will manipulate regulations if it is to their financial benefit to do so. That’s normal business practice.
“If we seek to attribute blame for the cause of most (retirement village) disputes, look no further than the weaknesses in regulations that govern the industry.
“Credit where credit is due, the current (Palaszczuk) government has gone further than any other in seeking to achieve fairness. Time will tell if our efforts yield improvements or an election puts our concerns on ice, again.”
Minister de Brenni failed to show at the resident association’s 25th annual general meeting in September.
President Judy Mayfield acknowledged emerging issues and tensions among residents and operator/developers.
“The majority of those in retirement
villages now are older and like their villa-style, semi-detached, ground floor or low-level living,” she said.
“It’s a smaller version of what was the great Australian dream of that generation: to have a suburban house on a sizeable block of land and suits the ‘village’ feel.
“That’s not the way of the future; that’s not what young baby boomers are interested in – and developers are keen to develop now, the right product for them.”
Design expert: only way is up
Queensland University of Technology architectural design expert Evonne Miller told The Senior the future of retirement and aged care living was vertical.
“There’s not much option. We look at some of our suburbs: it’s either up or nothing,” Dr Miller said.
“I think people deserve the right to age in place, or age in an aged care facility in the neighbourhood of a suburb they grew up in.
“Lower density is not always attractive or ideal. Good design takes advantage of orientation and natural daylight, is attractive, has welcoming areas to commune – cafes, libraries, playgrounds, a pool ... perhaps businesses are collocated.”
Dr Miller’s feedback was echoed in the rationale behind Aveo’s latest Brisbane development at Newstead’s Gasworks.
While it has its own community area, health and wellness centre, cafes, lounges, theatre, restaurant and gym, it is being built above retail and cafe space, spilling out into community greenspace.
“There’s a tsunami of retirees coming who want choice,” said Aveo chief executive Geoff Grady. “They’re home owners who are downsizing and they want to live close to the city, to activities.”
The 19-storey tower, due for completion mid-2018, will comprise 144 independent living apartments, 55 assisted living units and a nine-bed aged care facility.
