imcrookonit
Ex Member
|
Elderly residents forced out as retirement village operators redevelop
DOZENS of residents in their 80s and 90s face the loss of their rental homes as retirement village operators redevelop in search of higher profits.
For the third time in a year, a "boutique seniors community" has been sold in southeast Queensland, leaving the 46 rental tenants – the oldest aged 94 – to find new homes or pay $250,000 to buy their units.
Lifestyle Estates at Redbank Plains in Ipswich informed tenants last week the property had been bought by Seasons Supported Living, which planned to turn it into an aged care facility.
For Olive Fisher, 81, it is the second time in a year she has lost her home after being forced out of Village Life on Bribie Island last December.
Aged care experts have warned that a recent change in federal funding meant it was more profitable to operate as a higher-care facility than as rented retirement homes.
Elderly people who are renting have no more rights than other tenants in the private market, leaving them at the mercy of landlords.
Aged Care Queensland chief executive Barry Ashcroft said an ageing society had sparked considerable growth in retirement villages, but it was often difficult to strike a balance between making a profit and delivering care to residents.
"When you have a rental village, you need to be sure you're building at the right prices and renting at the right prices to provide a good service to the community," Mr Ashcroft said. "Like any business, it's about your input costs and costs of operation; you have to make a profit to stay in business."
Mavis Grayson, 80, said she was angry residents were not better informed about the sale at Ipswich on Monday.
"They kept it very quiet. Nobody knew anything about it," Ms Grayson said.
"Forty-odd people have been given their comeuppance and told they have to find other accommodation. We've been crossed off as if we're being put in the grave."
Mrs Fisher said she planned to live with her daughter, although other residents faced a more uncertain future.
"I think it's a terrible thing to put old people out like they've done," Mrs Fisher said. "I had to move out of Bribie last year. Now I've got to do it again."
William Quilty, 72, said he had been invited by the new owners to buy his single-bedroom unit for $250,000, but did not have the money.
"I'm not very happy with what's happened," Mr Quilty said. "My daughter's looking for somewhere else, but she hasn't been real impressed with what she's seen."
Last December, more than 100 elderly residents at Village Life at Caloundra and Bribie Island were forced out after the retirement villages were converted into aged-care facilities by Seasons.
But managing director of Seasons, Paul Browne, said had Lifestyle Estates not been bought by his company, it would have closed down.
"It's never run higher than about 50 per cent occupancy," Mr Browne said.
"The whole of the rental accommodation for pensioners industry is over-supplied.
"Many of them have had to close."
Lifestyle Estates' general manager Matt Loveday said occupancy rates across the retirement village market were averaging 80 per cent – but needed to be 95 per cent.
"It was a tough decision to sell Redbank, but it was ultimately a business decision," Mr Loveday said.
Ipswich councillor Paul Tully said it was disgraceful elderly people could be treated so deplorably. He called for the State Government to introduce laws to protect them.
|