Challenges housing an ageing society

This Issue This is a part of the Retrofit and renovation feature

By - , Build 116

New Zealand’s demographics are changing, and both the current housing stock and new housing will need to change to meet the needs of an ageing population in the near future.

When Minister of Housing Phil Heatley opened the Housing in an Ageing Society forum organised by the Centre for Housing Research (CHRANZ), he asked the room of government agencies, building industry bodies and sustainability experts to consider the possibilities and opportunities that housing an ageing population presents to New Zealand.

‘This is about producing the right housing product that consumers either want to buy, rent or lease in their later years,’ said the Minister. ‘Our focus is on improving the regulatory environment: land supply, zoning and building laws can all be barriers to developing affordable housing. Changes to the Resource Management Act and Building Amendment Act (No. 2) enable developers to obtain national building consents, saving time and costs for developers, which will flow on to consumers through lower prices.

‘Our review of building regulations is to ensure that buildings are built right first time, with certified building products and by quality tradespeople. Taken together, all of these initiatives should ensure that there is appropriate housing for the ageing society.’

Retrofitting for energy efficiency

Part of the government’s approach includes a goal of retrofitting 180,000 homes over 4 years, with better insulation and clean heating. Energy inefficiency is a drain on resources, and for older people with a limited income, the decision to stay warm can be balanced against purchasing groceries. Whether they opt to keep warm rather than eat, or eat rather than keep warm, their health will decline. Improving energy efficiency is a win-win for New Zealand and older New Zealanders, said the Minister.

Kay Saville-Smith of CRESA (the Centre for Research Evaluation and Social Assessment) and Dr Bev James of Public Policy and Research presented three scenarios for an ageing society: business as usual, integrated response and fragmented innovation.

Poor match of housing and needs

Kay Saville-Smith outlined the likely demographics in 2050 – a high dependency ratio with 38.5% of the population in old age and 28.5% young age dependency. In 2050, 23% of the population will be aged 65 years or over, and 820,000 households will have an older person as head of the household (compared to 288,900 currently).

At the same time, New Zealand would have an ageing housing stock with properties from the 1960s and 1970s difficult to renovate and retrofit. The trend in new housing stock for bigger homes with lower occupancy has the disadvantages of being ‘too big for comfort’ and higher running costs. Positives coming out of new stock included better orientation and insulation.

Key issues identified in existing housing stock include:

  • heating
  • maintenance
  • modification
  • location and access to amenities.

With the current undersupply of social housing and prevalence of disabilities, a business as usual scenario would result in reduced residential care and uncoordinated services. Dr James said new dwellings were poorly matched to the needs of an ageing society – they were too big, in the wrong location and prohibitively priced.

Strategic or innovative approaches

The integrated response scenario outlined a strategic plan for housing with strong public-private partnerships. This approach would also see the promotion of accessibility and housing performance for new and existing stock. Features of this approach included:

  • a range of tenures for needs and budgets
  • increased range of types of dwellings
  • suitable community environments
  • consideration of repairs and maintenance including cost and standard of work
  • retrofitting, modifications and adaptation so that ageing in place can be a reality.

The final scenario of fragmented innovation was private sector-led and would have limited availability. For the building sector, this scenario could include:

  • codes adopted for premium dwellings for performance, accessibility and connectivity
  • increased housing supply segmentation
  • smart houses and assistive technologies for premium homes.

Research coming out of Australia highlighted the need to design houses with integrated features to minimise future modification, for example, ease of access and bathrooms sited at entry level.

There was also an opportunity for products designed to fit with a universal design model, such as kitchen appliances with safety features and cost-effective vertical access.

For more

Full forum agenda and presentations are available online at www.chranz.co.nz.

Download the PDF

More articles about these topics

Articles are correct at the time of publication but may have since become outdated.

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