The retirement Living Council wishes to change the language of retirement villages, channelling the new label ‘age friendly communities’.
M-L MacDonald, President of the Retirement Living Council, and Ben Myers (main picture), the Council’s Executive Director, both used the term “age friendly communities” at its national conference on the Gold Coast last week.
“The term “age friendly communities” helps us better communicate what a retirement village, land lease community or rental village actually does,” Ben told us.
“When we are in Canberra and use one of those terms, the mindset of the politician or public servant immediately goes to it’s a state or territory responsibility. Using the term “age friendly communities” changes that mind set.
“It takes us out of the consumer protection debate.”
Villages are regulated by state and territory legislation and the Retirement Living Council finds this is the mindset of politicians and public servants in Canberra.