Innovative housing solutions for ageing in place in Maleny (Research Project Report)

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Innovative housing solutions for ageing in place in Maleny (Research Project Report)

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Title: Innovative housing solutions for ageing in place in Maleny (Research Project Report)
Author/Creator: Dendle, Kelli
Description: Stable, appropriate and affordable housing provides the basis for healthy people and healthy communities, however there is a fundamental mismatch between the demand and supply of appropriate housing options for older people to age-in-place. Rural and regional areas are home to a larger percentage of older residents than major urban areas and may face more acute issues finding appropriate housing to meet the needs of their older residents. The option for older adults to share a dwelling with one or more other people has the potential to provide social, economic and health benefits for residents and to improve the lives of people living in rural and regional areas while reducing costs for government. This project focussed on a specific community: Maleny, a regional town in South-east Queensland, to investigate the wants and needs of older residents and what approaches might enable them to share a dwelling if they wished to. Developed in consultation with local older adults, service providers, and residential housing professionals, it identifies and prioritises features of the residential environment that could deliver the most workable solutions for local older people who wish to share a dwelling. It also identifies factors that are constraints, enablers and barriers to uptake of these solutions. The project identified that there is strong demand for appropriate dwellings for ageing-in place in Maleny but there is virtually no available supply. This is compounded by the high demand for properties from other residential and tourist segments, limited vacant land, hilly terrain and local climatic conditions. Older people who can no longer maintain their properties and those with limited financial resources are at particular risk of being forced to relocate, often separating them from established support networks. The project outcomes deliver a blueprint for developing age friendly, quality, affordable, accessible and functional dual or multiple occupancy dwellings - by retrofitting existing housing stock or constructing new purpose-built dwellings. We detail a range of residential options which respond to the unique situation of older Maleny residents who wish to agein- place, with exemplars of retro-fit and new dwelling designs in and near Maleny township. We also provide insights into the circumstances of contemporary regional elders, highlight issues which emerged during the community consultation and design phases of the project, and provide both overarching and focussed recommendations to address these issues.
Description: This project was funded by the Queensland Government Advancing Queensland: an age-friendly community grants program.
Description: Please cite this record using the following DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25907/5c536f24e50f9
Year: 2018
Publisher: Maleny Neighbourhood Centre
Subject: FoR 1205 (Urban and Regional Planning) | FoR 1604 (Human Geography)

Resource Type: Report

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USC Research Bank - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia