Silver tsunami hits the Sunshine state

Silver tsunami hits the Sunshine stateAnalysis by RPS Consultants, building on work undertaken for the Property Council, has found urgent action is needed to create more housing for an ageing Queensland population.By 20, Queensland will need around 111,000 independent living units for people aged over 65 – more than four times the current supply of 28,000 units.Greater Brisbane – which takes in the Gold and Sunshine Coasts – must double the amount of retirement living accommodation over the next 20 years, with the demand for aged care units expected to quadruple.Property Council executive director in Queensland, Chris Mountford, acknowledges that the ageing population and accelerated demand for retirement living dwellings posed a massive challenge for both government and industry.”A range of barriers are preventing the industry from delivering more retirement living accommodation,” Mountford explain.”Fundamentally, the issue is that retirement village operators find it hard to compete in an open market because their business model is very different to that of a residential developer.”The Property Council has been working with the Brisbane City Council to address some of these constraints, which may include fast-tracking development applications for new retirement living projects.”Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has been vocal in his commitment to build an inclusive city in which people can age in the community, rather than needing to move many suburbs away, and we are encouraged by Council’s willingness to look at solutions,” Mountford says.”Brisbane City Council has introduced changes to its planning laws to reduce car parking requirements for retirement facilities, to increase the permitted size of granny flats, and to allow smaller lots around larger shopping centres – but it’s still not enough. “There are many things that councils can do to transform retirement living development from unviable to viable We need to look at creative policies that encourage development so that Queensland meets the needs of all its citizens both now and for decades to come.”Read the report from RPS Consultants.