by Danidu Wijekoon
Think about your grandparents. They're the ones who can spoil you (and get away with it) without having to be the ones to tell you off. Mine were no different, and I looked up to them as many kids do. But eventually the strong and healthy 70 year old granddad that I remember picking me up from kindegarten in his 1971 Mitsubishi stopped driving at 80 and could barely walk by 90. I hate to start an article with a depressing note, but the reality is that our parents and eventually we will get there too. What happens then? Can we still live at 80 where we lived at 70?
One key aspiration of the Homestar scheme is to ensure that the most vulnerable of our society has access to healthy, quality homes. Many different demographics fall into this category, including older kiwis who are more susceptible to respiratory and other illnesses, more likely to feel cold and discomfort in winter, more likely to be injured at home through trips, falls and burns, and forms the largest portion of our shameful excess winter mortality rate of 16%.
Aged care therefore forms one of the core target sectors that the Homestar tool is designed to cater for, so it is encouraging to see that some of the largest aged care providers in New Zealand pursuing Homestar certification of their new developments.
NZ has a rapidly aging population. By 2036 the Ministry of Social Development projects that 2 in 9 kiwis – just over 1.25 million – will be over 65. This will represent a 77% increase from that number in 2016 and mean a growth rate over 10 times faster than that of the under 14 age group. So it is not surprising that according to Senior Trust the number of retirement villages in New Zealand grew by 9.16 in just three years between 2012 and 2015. According to professional services and investment management firm JLL, the market for the aged care sector is slated to grow by 155% in the next 25 years. This pipeline of growth is already in full gear and clearly visible whether in Auckland, Papamoa or anywhere else in New Zealand.
So how does Homestar (6 Star or higher certification) add value to a home in a retirement village? Broadly speaking a retirement village development is built to support several distinct lifestyles varying from independent living to assisted living and hospital type accommodation. When one decides to buy into a retirement village, it is often before or at the early years of retirement when comfort and freedom to enjoy an active life are important factors for downsizing from a typical family home. At this point the ability to conveniently enjoy amenities such as cafes or parks, and activities such as gardening or cycling are still important.
More importantly though as one ages the ability to withstand higher or lower than "comfortable" temperatures reduces and the susceptibility to respiratory illnesses and other health issues increases. Thus, a warm, dry living space becomes imperative for health, more and more so with age. The World Health Organisation suggests that living spaces should be maintained at 200C to be healthy and suitable for young children and older people.
What does this mean? It means better insulation, and better ventilation than is available in an average NZ home, including ones built to current minimum building code that still end up with plenty of mould and condensation in winter. The technical reasons for this range from construction methods that facilitate thermal bridging, to insufficient ventilation requirements in code, and as there are plenty of articles written on the matter, particularly by BRANZ I won’t elaborate on it here.
Later on, while accessible outdoor amenities are still important for a healthy life what is more important is that the home is still liveable with a person’s reduced mobility, and that there’s a comfortable indoor environment.
Then there are the energy efficient heaters and lights, water efficient fixtures and efficient hot water heaters that enable a house to not cost the earth to live in. This is important for all of us, but older persons no longer in full time employment are particularly vulnerable to energy poverty.
Each of these factors are important in a dwelling with respect to design, construction and location, to ensure that it is suitable as a home for as long as possible for the occupants and these define what it really means to be a quality home. This is the case whether it is intended as social housing for older people or is within a retirement village operated by a large commercial provider. Now anyone can claim their developments are green, efficient and accessible, but can these claims of quality be backed up? This is why verification that your home has the features that make it suitable for your needs is important.
This is also where Homestar comes in, being the only holistic residential rating tool that recognises and rewards all these features while being specifically designs for New Zealand.
It is not only a mark of quality that factors that matter to older people are considered, but as it has a 6-10 rating scale, it also allows competitive comparison, making Homestar a true market differentiator.
This has not been lost on a number of savvy large retirement home providers that already building villages to the Homestar standard.
Value vs Cost
Sure, rating tools, or any kind of certification or compliance verification costs a bit extra, like moving from an MDF to granite or Marble benchtops. Actually I lie. It cost SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than a Marble benchtop.
But what about value? Most retirement developments operate on a model where the property reverts to the service provider when the occupants eventually pass on. So, would you want to end up with a cold damp house in 15 years that that you wouldn’t want your own parents or grandparents to live in and is far behind the code of the day, or have confidence that even in several years’ time, the dwelling remains fit for purpose, healthy, comfortable and warm? Would you want to have to budget for significant renovations before the house is ready to be called a home, or have a place that will not only save your clients money but also allow a quick turn around when the time comes?
The beauty of verification is that while there may be an extra upfront cost of certification (Rawlinsons estimate that for 6 Homestar this varies from only around 1.7% in Auckland to just under 2.3% in Christchurch), this is trumped by the operational savings of what is a long-term investment. Additionally, with verification of quality, you get a degree of confidence on what the future utility and costs of your investment will be.
Joining the club?
Things to remember – Homestar can certify all types of dwellings – but barring a few rare exceptions they need to be self sufficient in that there should be cooking and bathroom facilities. Otherwise our sister tool Green Star can rate everything from Hotels to Hospitals. Talk to your local Homestar assessor today and they can help you with the registration process, give design advice to ensure your development has what it takes and carry out the assessment.