102 | COMMUNITY Abbeyfield NZ Darren Moon darren.moon@rothbury.co.nz Want trusted insurance advice from a local? Leave it to Darren. Proud insurance advisers to Abbeyfield NZ Your reliable and trusted Main Contractor, proud to deliver Abbeyfield Katikati. We deliver exceptional quality projects across the Commercial, Industrial, Residential and Fitout sectors. iline.co.nz Continuing Ted’s legacy Abbeyfield NZ is a for-purpose organisation set up to help people afford to maintain their independence while providing companionship and resources. T T Virginia Wright “More and more communities are coming to us expressing their interest in building a house because they can see the need in their community...” Abbeyfield is an innovative housing model for older people which was introduced to New Zealand in 1991 by Nelson GP Dr Ted Bassett. His search for a model for retirement accommodation took him to the UK where Richard Carr-Gromm had established the first six Abbeyfield houses in 1956. Community driven, designed to provide safe, affordable accommodation for older people wanting to retain their independence while enjoying the company of others, they’re now found around the world. From the time when Dr Bassett recruited a small energetic group of supporters to help with the first Abbeyfield NZ house in Nelson the enterprise has depended on volunteers. While Abbeyfield New Zealand is governed by a board with elected members, every house — and there are now 16 scattered around the country — is run by a local society. “Each society is a legal entity, and registered charity, in its own right, but it’s basically a group of volunteers,” says Ruth Seabright, who joined Abbeyfield New Zealand as Executive Officer in July 2024. “More and more communities are coming to us expressing their interest in building a house because they can see the need in their community and that’s what we need — local people to bring that motivation and that drive,” says Ruth. Funding, needless to say, is the other thing they need. Each of the houses, designed to provide independent living for 12 to 14 people, costs between $4m and $5m including land. While dining, living and laundry space are shared, each resident has their own 30sqm studio with en-suite, and most with outdoor access to a patio or garden. “It’s one really large house, with a housekeeper that cooks two meals a day. Breakfast is self-service with food provided. So, it’s really about providing that level of independence without the burdens of maintaining a whole house and then the value-add of having others to engage with,” says Ruth. Applications from residents are evaluated by the local volunteer committee: their finances, their ability to live independently, whether they get on well with others, whether they’re suffering from isolation and loneliness, and whether they’d benefit from that shared community living. “We look wholistically at a person’s situation at the time and offer the space to the person who has the greatest need at the time that a room is available,” says Ruth. A weekly fee, targeted to be affordable for single people living on their superannuation alone, currently averages $500 and covers their accommodation, food and all household expenses including maintenance. Residents are single and eligible from the age of 65 but the average age in most houses is over 80. “So, they’re not the newly retired but those a bit further on and while most go on to high level care eventually, it’s generally at an older age than people living completely independently,” says Ruth. By 2048 it’s estimated New Zealand will have 600,000 renters over the age of 65, and for those living on the pension, paying market rates is difficult if not impossible. Abbeyfield NZ is a for-purpose organisation set up to help people afford to maintain their independence while providing companionship and resources but, as Ruth points out, they can only achieve the affordable rent because they’re not focused on making a profit. While it now has the pipeline to support building a house a year, they know they can’t sustain the debt servicing if they have to borrow too much money. While they can generally find 50% of the funds locally or through philanthropic means, it’s currently difficult to find the other 50% they need upfront to make a build possible. The last two houses successfully built and tenanted, in Manukau and Katikati, were 50% match-funded through the now discontinued, government run, Affordable Housing Fund. In the past councils have donated land and offered peppercorn leases, and there have been some large grant funders. “What would be really amazing is if there were some high-net-worth individuals out there that wanted to make that social investment into housing for older people.” Waimakariri, Napier and Alexandra have houses in the wings as Abbeyfield NZ works towards resource consent and being shovel ready for the time when that match-funding eventuates one way or another and they can build another safe, secure home for people in need of companionship.
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