Older people get a flatting alternative

Terry Foster says 10 single people of modest means will each have a 22sq m ensuite bedroom. Picture / Martin Sykes

There's a new concept in flatting starting up in the Auckland suburb of Sandringham - but under-60s need not apply.

Abbeyfield House, being built in Carrie St, is the work of an international charity that aims to offer older people a choice other than to live alone or in a retirement village or rest home.

Ten single people of modest means will each have a 22sq m ensuite bedroom, with a live-in housekeeper providing two meals a day and communal-area cleaning, says Terry Foster, a semi-retired former Housing Corporation manager who has been working on the project.

The cost: $280 all up a week.

"It's aimed at providing a comfortable, friendly and supportive home for lonely older people," says Mr Foster, "particularly those who cannot maintain a large house or who would benefit from having company and living in safety".

It's a sort of supervised flatting, says Mr Foster. The other benefits range from guaranteed good nutrition to a guest room for visitors, which possibly isn't the case in the average Kiwi flat of 20 and 30-somethings. Potential residents will be interviewed by the incumbents, with a house management committee made up of residents and Abbeyfield's local members.

Applicants are being sought for the spacious Carrie St house, which will be finished mid-2006.

The only stipulations are that residents be more than 60 years of age and "active and independent", says Mr Foster. (The use of mobility scooters is fine - in fact, there's a scooter shed out the back.) Applicants' assets should not exceed $400,000.

Abbeyfield houses exist in Stoke, Masterton, Motueka, Hamilton and Whangarei. The average age of residents is about 70.

The Carrie St land, worth about $400,000 and previously the site of pensioner flats, was donated by Auckland City. About 15 per cent of the $1.2 million construction cost has been covered by a grant and mortgage finance from Housing New Zealand's Housing Innovation Fund.

Abbeyfield International was set up in Britain in 1956. There are more than 900 houses in 16 countries.

Abbeyfield New Zealand started in Nelson in 1992; JB Munro, the brother of the "world's fastest Indian" Burt Munro, is the chairman.

More Abbeyfield homes are planned for Golden Bay, Queenstown, Dunedin, Palmerston North, Tahuna and Kaeo to keep up with demand.

* For information on applying for a room at Carrie St, contact Terry Foster on 522-2570 or Marilyn Reynolds on 302-1119. Alternatively, see below for a link to the Abbeyfield website.