2021-12-13 GC Agenda - Item 8 -Attachment 1 - Housing Needs Assessment

In 2018 the Queensland Division of Planning Institute Australia (PIA) released a paper on Creating
Age Friendly Communities.63 It included support for social integration of aged persons through
initiatives such as:
•     Supporting opportunities for access to services and destinations through mini-bus or shuttle
      bus provision, public transport options and private vehicle transport services (where
      ultimately evolution to autonomous vehicles is anticipated);
•     integrated and mixed use housing (co-locating aged persons housing with other uses such
      as student accommodation, shops or child care centres);
•     aged persons involvement in mentoring and coaching young people; and
•     other initiatives to diminish social isolation such as Mens Sheds, Senior Citizens Clubs and
      the like
It also encourages the inclusion of a range of housing options and programs in local communities to
provide a variety of accommodation types to suit the ageing population at different stages of their
lives, and encouraged planning schemes to make allowances for the range of housing options which
support aging in place, such as secondary dwellings or other more flexible living arrangements.
Adaptable housing principles were also encouraged.
The Longevity by Design charrette was a joint initiative of The University of Queensland‘s Healthy
Ageing Initiative and DMA Engineers to rethink the future of senior living design. The built
environment sector, private and community-based organisations, government bodies and
educational institutions came together to challenge the way senior living is delivered. From the 2020
event, suggested approaches included building integrated walkable neighbourhoods that reduce
distances between homes and services and converting typical house blocks to spaces where
multiple generations can live. In 2021 the focus is on designing pandemic-proof residential aged care
that feels like home.
Retrospectively applied to Noosa’s urban areas the greatest opportunity for this to occur is building
more dwellings close to services, within the existing urban areas.
Shared models like rooming accommodation offer potential for compatible people to live together
sharing some communal spaces but still with their own privacy. There are for example different
networks emerging that focus on single women over 55 sharing domestic scale accommodation:


       Established in 2021 through the support of Zonta International, the Older Women Co-Housing
       Association (Qld) Inc. or “Sharing with Friends” is a co-housing model based on common
       ownership of land and shared equity of the building. It claims to offer an affordable, safe,
       secure home for five older women to live privately and with dignity as they age. Each unit has
       its own private, lock-up one bedroom unit with living area, kitchen and bathroom and a private
       courtyard. The front deck opens onto a landscaped common garden area. The garden
       pavilion has a shared laundry, entertainment space, kitchen, and toilet. And there is a garden
       shed.
       Designed for an 800m² block, and placed close to public transport, shops and medical
       facilities, the residence incorporates all the universal design guidelines for ageing in place-
       wide doorways, on the ground, wheelchair access etc.


       Better Together Housing, based on the Sunshine Coast has been created with input from
       Sundale and Coast2Bay Housing as well as the Sunshine Coast University to address the
       rising cost of living and the risk of social isolation facing single women over 55 years living




63 PIA (2018) Creating Age Friendly Communities, prepared by John Gaskell Planning Consultants




Noosa Housing Needs Assessment 2021                                                              Page 113