Skip to content Skip to navigation
MENU
COTA Victoria Logo
Login
Get Involved
Home CLOSE
MENU
  • About
    About
    CLOSE MENU
    • Management Team
    • Annual reports and financial statements
    • Board of Governance
    • Contact Us
    • Work with us
    • COTA Victoria Privacy Statement
  • News
    News
    CLOSE MENU
    • Latest News
    • COTA Connects
      • Sign-up for e-Newsletter
    • Media
      • Media Releases
    • COTA Conversations podcast
    • ONE COTA magazine
  • Events
  • Policy
    Policy
    CLOSE MENU
    • Our policy priorities
    • Policy positions
    • Assistive Technology for All
    • Elder Abuse | Seniors Rights Victoria
    • Submissions
    • Publications
  • Programs
    Programs
    CLOSE MENU
    • Seniors Rights Victoria
    • Older Men: New Ideas (OM:NI) men’s discussion groups
    • Care Finders
    • Carer Employment Support
      • Women Working Together
    • Living Longer Living Stronger
    • COTA Cycling
    • Victorian Seniors Festival 2023
    • Past Programs
  • Information
    Information
    CLOSE MENU
    • Looking for information?
    • COTA WISE services
    • How-to guides
    • Resources
    • It’s Your Energy - New Energy Rights for Victorians
  • Support us
    Support us
    CLOSE MENU
    • Become a member
    • Sign up for COTA Connects newsletter
    • Volunteer with us
    • Donations and Bequests
  • About
  • News
  • Events
  • Policy
  • Programs
  • Information
  • Support us
  • Login
About
  • Management Team
  • Annual reports and financial statements
  • Board of Governance
  • Contact Us
  • Work with us
  • COTA Victoria Privacy Statement
News
  • Latest News
  • COTA Connects
  • Media
  • COTA Conversations podcast
  • ONE COTA magazine
COTA Connects
  • Sign-up for e-Newsletter
Media
  • Media Releases
Policy
  • Our policy priorities
  • Policy positions
  • Assistive Technology for All
  • Elder Abuse | Seniors Rights Victoria
  • Submissions
  • Publications
Programs
  • Seniors Rights Victoria
  • Older Men: New Ideas (OM:NI) men’s discussion groups
  • Care Finders
  • Carer Employment Support
  • Living Longer Living Stronger
  • COTA Cycling
  • Victorian Seniors Festival 2023
  • Past Programs
Carer Employment Support
  • Women Working Together
Information
  • Looking for information?
  • COTA WISE services
  • How-to guides
  • Resources
  • It’s Your Energy - New Energy Rights for Victorians
Support us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for COTA Connects newsletter
  • Volunteer with us
  • Donations and Bequests

The long road to retirement housing reform

14 March 202019/05/2021
Consumer Rights, Cost of Living, Housing and Accomodation
The long road to retirement housing reform preview image

The issue

Retirement Villages are a significant form of housing for older Victorians. Across the state, around 30,000 people live in more than 350 retirement villages. Often, older women make the move into retirement housing after the loss of a partner – a time of grief, stress and pressure that can hinder informed decision-making. This vulnerable consumer group is confronted with complex contracts and choices that are hard to understand, even with legal advice.

COTA Victoria has been part of a long-running campaign to reform the retirement housing sector. Over the past seven years we’ve worked with residents and other organisations to research the issues and speak up in policy reform processes.

What we did

In 2016, we made a joint submission to a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the retirement housing sector. Our submission highlighted examples of exploitative and abusive practices and called for broad-ranging reform.

We’ve been involved in events from small stakeholder meetings to a large forum that attracted more than 100 attendees to Parliament House in 2017. Residents also joined us to advocate directly to MPs in the lead-up to the 2018 Victorian election. Subsequently, we supported joint research into consumers’ decision-making processes led by the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC).

Since 2019 we have been participating in the review of the Retirement Villages Act 1986 (Vic), as a member of the Stakeholder Reference Group. Most recently we have commented on the Options Paper in a joint submission with the Consumer Law Action Centre (CALC), Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG) and Residents of Retirement Villages Victoria (RRVV). Our nine key points are aimed at creating a simpler, forward looking retirement housing system that meets the aspirations and needs of older people.

 

The impact

Over the course of our advocacy, we’ve seen some improvements, primarily in consumer awareness. Media coverage of exploitative practices has made people more aware of the financial ramifications of a move into a retirement village. There’s also greater awareness of the Deferred Management Fee model, exit fees and the lack of transparency in contracts.

In turn, this has prompted minor improvements to business practices. Some retirement villages are now offering clearer fee information so that consumers have a better understanding of what they’re buying into.

But there’s still a long way to go. Vested interests, inter-jurisdictional issues, political resistance, and legislative complexity have all been roadblocks to reform. We’re continuing the push for residents’ rights and better consumer protections.

retirement housing, retirement villages

RELATED NEWS

COTA Victoria & Seniors Rights Victoria CEO’s message, December 2023 preview image

COTA Victoria & Seniors Rights Victoria CEO’s message, December 2023

30 November 2023
Read more
Read more
Notice of Special General Meeting (SGM) preview image

Notice of Special General Meeting (SGM)

23 November 2023
Read more
Read more
COTA Victoria Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2023 preview image

COTA Victoria Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2023

22 November 2023
Read more
Read more
SHARE THIS CONTENT:
COTA Victoria Logo
  • About
  • News
  • Events
  • Policy
  • Programs
  • Information
  • Support us
Seniors Rights Victoria Registered Charity
Follow on
Facebook
COTA FEDERATION
  • ACT
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia
COTA Western Australia COTA Northern Territory COTA Queensland COTA New South Wales COTA ACT COTA Victoria COTA South Australia COTA Tasmania
Follow on
Twitter
GET INVOLVED
  • Seniors Rights Victoria
  • COTA Connects newsletter
  • Get Involved
  • COTA Insurance
  • Follow on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Follow on Instagram
  • Follow on Threads
  • Contact Us
Seniors Rights Victoria
TERMS PRIVACY CONTACT SITEMAP
© 2023 COTA Victoria ABN 81 960 500 420 WEB DESIGN CODE AND VISUAL
Back to top
All correspondence may also be collected and stored, particularly in regard to registrations, including Email. Any information collected by COTA Victoria is collected via correspondence from you or your organisation. This may be via the telephone, Email, mail, fax or directly through our website.AcceptReject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT