The aged people of this country lack certainty of tenure in their retirement living. Here are three examples of the problem.
A national company which for decades established retirement villages was taken over by an investment corporation. The new owners saw profits by redeveloping these villages and advised that the residents would face eviction. Happily - and probably as a result of the unfavourable publicity - there was a change of heart.
Shortly after the end of WW11 a returned servicemen and women's league established a retirement village for veterans. The managing committee - swamped by applications from aged veterans - considered demolishing the existing village and redeveloping it on a much larger scale - but to do this the existing veterans would need to be dispersed to other accommodation scattered across the entire state. Those living in the village were devastated at the thought of " their close family " being broken up and relationships shattered. Again, publicity brought a rethink - and this village will remain intact.
A church organization had established a nursing home for the aged decades ago on a prime piece of land which has become " millionaires row ". This is now surrounded by high rise with apartments selling for huge sums.
The church sold the land to a developer and re-established a nursing home in an industrial suburb with no views. The aged residents were transferred to the new site but missed the halcyon days of having a beach and a small yacht harbour outside their windows.
Unfortunately there is no guarantee that aged people investing in accommodation for their twilight years have tenure of occupancy. The best they can hope for is that the provider will continue to honour the intention under which it was founded, but if a change of ownership occurs - then all bets are off.
Residents of aged accommodation are the most vulnerable in our community. Those that have made provision for their aged care are not in a position to negotiate new arrangements because many are suffering dementia and others have limited physical capacity.
What is needed is for government to have a long, hard look at this situation and pass legislation enshrining the rights of the aged to tenure. There should be restrictions making it difficult - if not impossible - for a change of ownership to dispossess the aged of their accommodation !
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