Hybrid housing models for older Australians: institutional framework and policy challenges

Figures & data

Table 1. Typology of housing options for older Australians.

Mainstream
Owned home	Own land and dwelling; no mortgage
Purchasing home	Own land and dwelling; mortgage
Social rental	Rent from public or community housing provider
Private rental	Rent from private landlord
Hybrid
Retirement village (variety of occupation arrangements)	Loan lease or loan licence arrangement for land/dwelling with some limited freehold.^a Substantial entry contribution and conditions on sale of unit.
Retirement village (rented)	Rent dwelling
Land lease community (own dwelling)	Own dwelling; rent land
Land lease community (rent dwelling)	Rent dwelling; rent land
Marginal
Short term caravan park (own dwelling)	Own caravan; rent land
Short term caravan park (rent dwelling)	Rent caravan; rent land
Rooming/boarding house	Rent room
Other
Rental Village	Rent semi-furnished dwelling
Occupying relative-owned property, /granny flats	Rent or rent free; life tenancy
Accessory units	Resident contribution or none
Collaborative housing	Co-living; co-operative housing; co-housing

Note (1): other housing options for low-income Australians have been identified, but these are typically smaller scale such as communal housing, ‘Abbeyfield’ houses and similar, boarding and rooming houses and private hotels (Bridge et al., 2011; Goodman et al., 2013; Jones et al., 2007; Tually et al., 2022). Note (2): ^aLoan-lease or loan-licence arrangements refer to resident funded retirement village units where incoming residents provide a substantial upfront payment and pay a ‘deferred management fee’ when they exit. The legal basis for occupancy thus differs from freehold ownership or a residential tenancy.

Table 2. Summary institutional review of LLCs and retirement villages.

Components of housing system based on institutional review		LLCs	Retirement villages
Production	Developer	For-profit providers: From single owners to large institutional investors who own multiple LLCs. Diversity in operators: Some own/develop sites and/or housing for residents and/or tourists who own a caravan/manufactured home. Some offer mixed accommodation between tourists and permanent residents; others are for permanent residents only. Some are interested in land banking and others have long term interest to operate as LLCs.	Not-for-profit and for-profit providers.
Exchange	Financing	Residents: Dwelling cost (purchase/rent), and weekly/fortnightly site fee. Not eligible for mortgage on the dwelling. Emerging specialist finance sector. Owners: Revenue from site fees, dwelling sales, and in some cases other fees. Low levels of capital investment on site. Land banking opportunity for future developments.	Residents: Entry contribution, management fees and exit fees. Owners: Revenue from fees (deferred management fees and ingoing contributions).
	Income support	Residents are eligible for RAa as usual.	Very few residents are eligible for RA.a
	Tenure	Residents: Land: leased. Dwellings: mostly owned, sometimes rented. Owners: Land: owned. Dwellings: resident owned, or owner owned.	Leasehold Loan/licence Strata Title and Community Title Other structures (including trust and company title rental agreement)
Consumption	Demographic target	Low-moderate-high income. Institutional investors target people aged over 50 or 55 years with assets. Some LLCs are mixed between tourists and residents.	Mid-high income. People aged 55 years or older with assets.
	Level of amenity	Varies, from up-market facilities to affordable LLCs with basic amenities.	Varies, from resort style high-cost villages with up-market amenities to affordable villages with basic amenities.
	Aged care	Older people may receive formal home care under the Aged Care Act (1997), but not provided by the LLC operators. Some operators provide/organise/inform about care.	Provision of care and services on site (usually by external agencies and cost). Usually, opportunities to access paid extra services. Some are co-located with residential aged care.
Management	Legislation	LLC specific legislation in NSW, NT, Qld, SA, and WA. Residential tenancies act in ACT, Tas and VIC (ACT and VIC have specific parts on LLCs).	Retirement Villages Acts in each Australian state and territory
	Security	Varies between jurisdictions; most afford greater security than mainstream residential tenancies (e.g., in NSW, no ‘no-grounds’ termination). Closure and/or change of use of a park is grounds for termination. In all jurisdictions less than 12 months’ notice to vacate. Length of tenancy agreements vary in LLCs.	Varies in jurisdictions.
	Management	Rules (e.g., pets, noise, parking) vary by LLCs. Large institutional developers provide gardening, landscaping, upkeep, and repair of common facilities. Some larger community managers are responsible for social and community activities.	Managers manage day-to-day operations of the village.
Issues outlined		Insecure tenancies. Park closures. Site rent increases. Lack of park maintenance. Lack of privacy due to shared facilities and control by management. Change of market focus from mixed use to tourism only. Gentrification of older parks into resort-style establishments. Moving the home can be difficult and expensive. Expensive to develop new parks.	Complex fees. Long reselling times. Complex contracts.

Note: ^aRent Assistance (RA) is a payment made by the federal government as part of its income support portfolio. Eligible people are those paying rent (other than to a public landlord) who are in receipt of pensions/benefits such as the age pension or family payments.

Figure 1. The proportion of older Australians (aged 65 years and over) in LLC and retirement villages in States/Territories (Source: ABS, 2021).

Table 3. Tenure type of individuals in LLCs and retirement villages, 2021.

Tenure and landlord type	Aged 65+, at home on census night^a		LLCs^a,b		Retirement villages^a
	n	%	n	%	n	%
Owned outright	2,670,028	67.6	20,289	67.5	94,635	41.9
Owned with a mortgage	478,665	12.1	537	1.8	5,777	2.6
Rented from private landlord	313,249	7.9	511	1.7	4,212	1.9
Rented from social landlord	150,861	3.8	129	0.4	13,941	6.2
Rented: Other landlord type	20,884	0.5	3,135	10.4	5,626	2.5
Rented: Landlord type not stated	6,615	0.2	87	0.3	1,650	0.7
Other tenure type	129,605	3.3	698	2.3	80,275	35.5
Tenure type not stated	181,287	4.6	4,656	15.5	19,725	8.7
Total	3,951,189	100.0	30,038	100.0	225,861	100.0

Source: ABS (2021). Note (1): ^aAustralians aged 65 years or older, individuals who were at home on Census night ^bincludes dwelling locations in caravan/residential parks or camping grounds and manufactured home estates (MHEs). Note (2): To minimise the risk of identifying individuals, ABS randomly adjusts small cell values via cell perturbation, ABS do not adjust totals and thus recommends using their totals. As such, the values and percentages do not always exactly match with totals.

Table 4. Socio-demographic characteristics of older Australians in LLCs and retirement villages, 2021.

Characteristic	LLCs^a,b		Retirement villages^a
	n	%	n	%
Gender: Female	13,604	45.3	143,810	63.7
Male	16,435	54.7	82,047	36.3
Age: 65–74	18,139	60.4	63,541	28.1
75–84	9,916	33.0	105,737	46.8
85+	1,983	6.6	56,586	25.1
Income: Q1 (very low)	15,439	51.4	115,782	51.2
Q2 (low)	6,136	20.4	61,370	27.2
Q3 + Q4 + Q5 (medium to high)	2,035	6.8	19,213	8.5
Other	3,308	11.0	20,763	9.2
N/A	3,119	10.4	8,738	3.9

Source: ABS (2021). Note: ^aAustralians aged 65 years or older, individuals who were at home on Census night ^bincludes dwelling locations in caravan/residential parks or camping grounds and manufactured home estates (MHEs).

Bridge, C., Davy, L., Judd, B., Flatau, P., Morris, A., & Phibbs, P. (2011). Age-specific housing and care for low to moderate income older people (No. 174). AHURI. https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/174

 Google Scholar

Goodman, R., Nelson, A., Dalton, T., Cigdem, M., Gabriel, M., & Jacobs, K. (2013). The experience of marginal rental housing in Australia (No. 210). AHURI. https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/210

 Google Scholar

Jones, A., Bell, M., Tilse, C., & Earl, G. (2007). Rental housing provision for lower-income older Australians (No. 98). AHURI. https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/98

 Google Scholar

Tually, S., Coram, V., Faulkner, D., Barrie, H., Sharam, A., James, A., Lowies, B., Bevin, K., Webb, E., & Hodgson, H. (2022). Alternative housing models for precariously housed older Australians (No. 378). AHURI.

 Google Scholar

Aged Care Act. (1997). https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A05206/latest/text

 Google Scholar

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Tablebuilder: 2021Census - counting persons, place of enumeration (MB). https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/detailed-methodology-information/information-papers/comparing-place-enumeration-place-usual-residence

 Google Scholar