Retirement Housing : A guide to Elderly Care

Purpose built retirement complexes are becoming a popular choice for people who find that their home has become too much to manage, but don’t want to go into a care home.

This usually takes the form of luxury flats or cottages with support provided by a care manager. The manager may live on the site (resident manager) or visit on a regular basis.

This type of accommodation is smaller with fewer bedrooms with the aim of providing manageable properties. Many of them will have a garden which residents have the opportunity to use but not the responsibility of looking after.

Retirement housing is usually located near shops and other similar facilities which mean that the residents are able to walk or travel to these very easily.

Facilities

These include a communal lounge where residents can meet, laundry and car parking. Various activities will be organised such as bingo, card evenings, trips out, lunch clubs, coffee mornings and concerts. Retirement housing is often known as ‘sheltered housing’ and the two are very similar. If the housing scheme has a manager living on site then it is often called sheltered housing.

The main difference is that sheltered accommodation has a communal entrance whereas retirement houses each have their own entrance.