The Retirement Living Council (RLC) has today released its national planning report card - called Retirement ready - which ranks state-based planning systems and recommends a suite of practical reforms.
The report card has been prepared together with leading national planning agency Urbis and has made the following key findings:
- 67 per cent of development applications for retirement villages take more than 12 months to receive a determination, while 23 per cent take more than two years.
- Retirement living is unable to compete with other land uses due to higher upfront costs and complexities in design and built form requirements leading to lower financial returns for operators.
- Outside of NSW, retirement living and seniors' housing is missing from key strategic planning documents across the country - including South Australia.
- There is a distinct lack of understanding of the retirement housing product with 70 per cent of operators believing assessor understanding is poor or very poor.
- South Australia has topped national rankings, with 58.8 points out of 100, followed by NSW, ACT, VIC, QLD, TAS and WA.
The report puts forward five key recommendations to make South Australia's planning system 'retirement ready' to provide more age-friendly housing supply for its ageing population.
- The State Government should establish clear policies in relevant strategic plans such as the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan for age-friendly accommodation, supported by ambitious growth targets.
- Planning authorities should work with industry to identify high-need locations and ageing hot spots across metropolitan Adelaide and statewide.
- Significant zoning or development bonuses should be offered to incentivise the development of retirement villages, akin to those given to social and affordable housing.
- Retirement living should be explicitly addressed in South Australia's housing strategies.
- Acknowledgement by the Federal Government of the evolving and innovative models the retirement sector can present in the delivery of care and wellbeing services.
Comments attributable to RLC Executive Director, Daniel Gannon
"South Australia may have the most 'retirement ready' planning system in the country, but its overall score is too low for a state with almost 10 per cent of its population over the age of 75.
"Like the rest of the country, South Australia faces a number of significant challenges related to housing supply, hospital and healthcare capacity, aged care and home care availability.
"In many ways it's no surprise that SA ranks first overall and on most key outcomes. Given recent planning reforms have focused on performance-based outcomes, SA is a shining light compared to other states that require more time and resources to work though.
"When we look around the country, a place like NSW presents a lot of frustration for investors and developers, with more than 500 planning schemes compared to only one in South Australia.
"We now know that 67 per cent of retirement village development applications take more than 365 days to complete assessment, while 23 per cent take more than 730 days.
"Given SA's over-75s cohort will increase by 64 per cent over the next decade and a half and retirement villages are effectively operating at full capacity, this is alarming and unacceptable.
"More red tape and complexity in planning systems won't help build the homes that older South Australians need, but they can dampen supply very easily.
"The good news is that South Australia can increase its lead at the top of the national rankings if it's willing to look at simple adjustments to its planning system."
Comments attributable to Urbis Associate Director, Kylie Newcombe:
"Retirement living plays a crucial role in providing age-friendly housing, enabling older residents to remain integral parts of their communities.
"Planning is a critical enabler for delivering the housing that the retirement living sector provides for older Australians. However, a significant 70 per cent of the industry feels let down by the system, citing that authorities have a 'poor' understanding of retirement living.
"As our ageing population continues to grow, it's more important than ever that retirement living is addressed in strategic plans and policies by state and local governments.
"A promising starting point could be setting explicit targets for retirement living, backed by a consistent set of controls and design guidance for application across the state."
