Age Concern Rotorua manager Rory O'Rourke. Photo / NZME
Small neighbourhoods, common green space and raised gardens to provide a common space for residents.
That's the vision for a new type of neighbourhood for elderly in need.
But it all comes down to finding land to deliver the vision.
Age Concern Rotorua manager Rory O'Rourke said the so-called "big box" model of senior living was no longer the only option for elderly residents and architects, capital providers, operators and entrepreneurs were exploring new concepts for smaller, more intimate styles of senior housing.
O'Rourke said these included small-home models of senior housing which could decentralise the traditional senior living community layout and help make senior living services more affordable for the masses in the process.
"Pocket neighbourhoods vary in size and scope, but usually consist of walkable clusters of homes with smaller than average square meterage," he said.
"While the concept has gained traction in the senior living world only in recent years, there are already established pocket neighbourhoods for people of all ages in many locations throughout the world."
A pocket neighbourhood consists of homes clustered in small neighbourhoods around a common green space and possibly raised gardens that provided common space for social connection.
O'Rourke said most pocket neighbourhoods on the senior living market today were geared towards independent older adults who did not need much or any help with daily living.
"But we can also envision a day when even residents needing higher levels of care could live in them too.
"How great would it be to have home health care aides visit these houses that are all in a circle around each other?"
O'Rourke said initially Age Concern Rotorua would be looking to help house elderly who had found it difficult making ends meet in retirement and would possibly look to help the homeless in the long term.
"At Age Concern we often hear stories about elderly who have retired without owning a home, struggling to keep up with the increasing price of rents."
He said the latest research showed retirees needed at least $800 a week to live modestly but comfortably.
"Also those who do own a home have often got a quarter acre section which is no longer manageable and a tiny home would be more suitable."
Age Concern is in negotiations with a landowner in Ngongotahā.
He said ideally they would want a minimum of six small houses and a maximum of about 10.
O'Rourke said Age Concern would be the landlord and manage the pocket neighbourhood and charge a rent that would be "reasonable given people's circumstances".
He said senior living owners, developers and operators were becoming more comfortable with the idea of smaller spaces for older adults.
"For some of them, pocket neighbourhoods and small homes are ways to develop oddly shaped or smaller parcels of land that aren't well-suited for larger development projects.
"The ability to offer housing at a more affordable rate is another component of the appeal for providers.
"And offering smaller, less amenitised homes in a pocket neighbourhood could be an easy way to unbundle some of the costly services that residents must buy into under the traditional housing model."
O'Rourke said not-for-profit providers like Age Concern Rotorua were well-positioned to experiment with new models of senior housing.
"As a not-for-profit with some financial backing and developing partnerships, I think that we are willing and able to cut our teeth on developing pocket neighbourhoods and learn along the way.
"And, maybe they don't have as much of an expectation of the quick scale-up and rebuild [as the for-profits]."
He said Age Concern was fortunate enough to own its premises in Eruera St, and when it moved to near Parksyde it sold the premises and decided to use the proceeds to help vulnerable elderly by providing affordable housing.
However, there were barriers to making the model work, he said.
One is the cost-prohibitive nature of building small.
"In a nutshell, construction companies are set up to leverage economies of scale when building senior living projects.
"That's good if you're developing a sprawling rest or retirement Complex which seem to be popping up regularly throughout New Zealand at present, but not so much when you're building a small home."
He said there would be rules and regulations set by the local council, and obtaining consent for such a development might be problematic as it was not in the Rotorua Lakes Plan moving forward.
Jason Ward, Rotorua Lakes Council planning and development solutions manager, said in general these types of villages were becoming more common.
"We are seeing a number of similar developments (not necessarily all tiny homes) getting under way in Rotorua. An example may be Lynmore Rise, so depending on what the village will look like and its location, it's definitely a feasible idea."
He said the council's planning team was always keen to sit down with potential developers to discuss any ideas or plans that they might have and how those plans worked with local regulations.
Generation Homes Taupō, Rotorua, Kawerau regional manager Paul Marshall said they were seeing a rise in popularity of small homes and neighbourhoods to some degree.
He said it really depended on the location within the town itself and the clientele.
Marshall said they were still getting a bunch of people upgrading and going to bigger sections, but there were people looking for smaller homes and sections which he thought was primarily driven by price and what people could afford.
He thought if the right space and area could be found for the pocket neighbourhood then there was no reason why it couldn't be feasible.
If people know of or own land they think could be used by Age Concern, call the manager on (027) 560 9956.
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