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| Retirement Source: Tax Credits, cc-by-3.0, flickr |
Ask most people where they’ll want to live out their twilight days and the answer is almost always the same – they want to continue living in their own home. In fact just 7% of older people move into the sheltered and retirement housing sectorIt’s not hard to see why, retirement housing is something that has a pretty massive stigma attached. When you move into an old people’s home people think of it as a sign of your declining years and a loss of independence. When was the last time you saw a retirement home on telly that you would actually want to live in? It’s never happened.
But the reality is very different. A good retirement home can free you up from lots of the agro of looking after a whole house. In sheltered housing you no longer need to worry about repairs or maintenance, you are in a sociable, supportive environment surrounded by other retirees to socialise with, and you can often live independently for longer thanks to the support these places provide.
However there’s a startling lack of awareness among older people about what high quality sheltered and retirement housing can offer, especially in the UK. In Europe the high quality, good locations and flexible designs of retirement housing make them an extremely attractive option.
Money Matters
One of the biggest barriers to quality retirement housing in the UK is the price. Many pensioners move into retirement housing only to discover too late that they’re not able to afford it. The leasehold system commonly used in the private sector can make the whole process needlessly complicated. A lot of people get caught out by surprise charges when a property is sold or transferred.
The Different Types of Housing Scheme
A good place to start is to know the various types of sheltered housing schemes that are available. Each scheme usually has around 20 to 40 self-contained bungalows or apartments, built around communal areas such as a lounge, laundry room or garden, often with a number of communal social events being organised there.
There will often be a scheme manager who lives either on or offsite that can provide 24-hour emergency help through an alarm system. If you need more help than that there is extra-care sheltered housing available, that allows you more independence than a live-in care home by providing meals and personal care, but still letting you live in a single self-contained flat.
The Pros
Moving into sheltered housing allows you to free up any money tied up in your home, so that you can make the most of your retirement. It also lets you cut down on all the cleaning, maintenance and general hassle that go along with taking care of a big house. Likewise, it will put you into a community, where people will be constantly interacting, visiting one another and organising events.
The question is, how do you want to spend your retirement? What’s really important to you? And how will the place that you live help you achieve that?
About Author:
By Sam Wright
Sam Wright is a freelance writer who currently works with Greenford Park Homes, and for his retirement plans to get a fishing boat and sail off into the sunset.
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