The Green Party welcomes the review of the Retirement Villages Act and urges the government to ensure that the voices and rights of residents are emphasised more than industry.
“Everyone deserves to have access to decent housing, including in the last decades of their life. Successive governments have allowed an aggressive for-profit model that dominates many retirement villages. This has failed to center the well-being of residents who do not have the same rights as tenants and we need to do better,” said Green Party seniors spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March.
“Recently, residents have pointed to the lack of access to collect their deposits when they leave their residence, the unclear contracts that trap them in unfair agreements and the poor quality of the facilities.
“Residents are currently required to continue to pay for their accommodation when they leave until the retirement village is able to renew it.
“It is something that puts people in difficulty, which is not the case with any other type of housing. It is time to grant residents of retirement villages the right to secure tenure and the right to warm, dry and accessible housing.
“What is missing in this review is ensuring that retirement villages provide affordable housing.
“The Greens believe that because the private sector will not voluntarily provide safe and affordable housing, we need stricter regulations to ensure retirement villages provide at least 25% of their units as affordable rentals.
“For the revision of the law on retirement villages to work, the government must center the voices of residents,” says Ricardo Menéndez March.
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