Published on 27th of August, 2023
After a rewarding career running profitable businesses, Norman entered retirement with modest savings. He was renting a small property outside Christchurch that he hoped to stay in for the rest of his life. All was well until one day last year when he went to get out of his car and collapsed.
“I crawled on my hands and knees to my house, got to bed, lay on that for a while thinking I’d come right. An hour later, I went to stand up and fell over again. I realised I was in serious trouble.” He activated his medical alarm. It was a respiratory infection that meant a four-night stay in hospital, from which Norman thankfully made a full recovery. However, the illness prompted one of his sons to have a closer look at the house in which Norman was living. It was found that the concrete foundation was cracked. Cold and moisture had been seeping into the house from beneath for years and within days, the house was condemned.
A long-term stay in a local hotel nearly depleted Norman’s savings. He then found rental accommodation in Christchurch but the facility closed two weeks later. Happily, his distress at being without accommodation again was eased when he was offered a place in Wesley Village, CMM’s affordable rental village for older people.
“That’s the story of how I arrived. I like it here and am very comfortable. All the tenants come to meet you and introduce themselves. On a hot day, we sit around and have a talk. I’ve met a lot of the older ladies and men. They are all different sorts – solicitors, clergymen, a great variety of people - and they make you feel very welcome.”
Norman, 80, is one of 60 older people who live in Wesley Village. A 2022 Retirement Commission study shows that 46% of the New Zealanders they surveyed aged 45-64 believed they would be renting after they turned 65 or would still be paying off their mortgage. The need for more community housing for older people as they enter retirement has never been greater.
CMM Executive Director Jill Hawkey says that the Mission plans to develop more long-term, affordable housing options for elderly with little or no savings. “Currently we have 70 people on our wait list for our older person’s housing and as there is only a turnover of four or five units a year, we have had to close the list. With such strong demand, CMM is committed to building more social and affordable housing units for older people over the next two to three years, as funds allow.”
Norman has been living in the CMM complex for three months. He describes his unit as warm and well insulated, and says he feels settled. “It was a bit of a shock to my system from living in the country with an acre of land to a one-bed unit with manicured grounds and a lot of people but it only gets better as I find out what they offer.” Perhaps one of the best things for this former businessman is the rent. At less than half what he was charged at his previous house, his rent “is unheard of,” he says.
