Friendship Apartments.
Purpose built apartments for one or two people, featuring an open plan living, dining and cooking space leading onto a generous balcony, with a single en-suite bedroom. Meeting areas on all floors, with communal gardens including rentable vegetable plots. The top floor is open to all residents to come together to socialise and enjoy the roof garden.
Tenure rented. Financial model based on servicing a 50 year PWLB fixed rate loan which means rents will be able to be offered at about 80% of market value. Offered initially to local people who are over 55 years young. The intention is that the target tenants then rent out their own larger homes which helps creates the family homes in the areas we most need them. The tenants thus retain their capital asset and it provides them with more than enough income to pay the rent at the Friendship Apartment.
Tenants can buy additional services such as meals, housekeeping, laundry etc.
The apartments should be built in or near the centre of towns which allows the tenants direct access to health services, shopping and entertainment.
None of the above is totally new thinking and many projects around retired living have been tried. The difference with this idea is that the residents continue to own their own home which is the singular main reason why the elderly cling on to their homes. They feel a duty to keep it and maintain it so that they can pass it on to their children. The enormous benefit to them is creating a community in which they can live and interact with people, thus reducing the isolation we have witnessed during the pandemic. Increasing their well-being in this way will inevitably lead to a reduction in the cost of care for this growing sector of the community.
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