Home Property Australia Queensland Govt’s investment in retirement village a welcome move

Queensland Govt’s investment in retirement village a welcome move

  • February 07, 2023
  • by Daniel Gannon

The Palaszczuk Government has bought a 30-unit property in Clayfield to help house Queenslanders in need. Source: Leeanne Enoch MP (Twitter)

Industry is often quick to call out bad government decision-making, and rightly so – but the same approach must be applied to positive outcomes.

Take a recent Queensland Government decision, for example. It has decided to purchase and renovate a well-located 30-unit retirement village in inner-city Brisbane.

Providing safe, secure and affordable housing for senior Australians is good policy, outcome-focused and evidence-based.

Queensland has already delivered two successful age-friendly social housing projects, Caggara House and Benson Place, and more are expected.

Analysis in Architecture&Design a few years’ after Caggara House opened showed the $15 million investment in the 57-unit, five-storey age-friendly community freed-up $25 million in local housing stock.

Last week’s policy decision was pitched as great news for older public housing tenants. The best news, however, was the off-label benefits. It delivers a ‘big bang’ in building local housing capability, while also increasing social housing supply.

Yes, I know – it sounds like the magic pudding. But it also looks, feels and acts like a magic pudding for public housing.

Both existing local tenants and ‘greatest need’ pensioners get the appropriately designed home they need to age-in-place, and struggling local families do too. When an older tenant downsizes, their house – often larger and with a yard – becomes available.

And, as with a user-pays model, the key ingredient in creating an ongoing supply of affordable and accessible housing is creating an attractive environment to encourage older residents to downsize locally.

Other ingredients for affordability, productivity and liveability include higher density to increase economies of scale, as well as colocation among shops, transport, health and community services to optimise independent living.

And that’s where governments can either make or break an investment decision – with the recent Queensland example, we extend our support and encourage more of it.