Last week, in our sister publication- SATURDAY, we covered the subject of Rental villages and how this sector is fast becoming an area to watch, with some interesting initiatives.
Cameron Taylor, Group Chief Operating Officer of Eureka Villages shares they are being driven by a new ‘Resident First’ approach across their 40 rental villages nationally – achieving 98% occupancy.
They are focused on residents feeling safe, secure and engaged in a village that is now genuinely their home. He points out to do this, every decision they make has to come back to make the residents time in the village the best it can be.
The average time a resident stays in a rental village is now 3.3 years.
Results have spoken for themselves, with the business growing their underlying profit before tax by 31% to $7.36 million and a total revenue of $27.5 million.
Move to permanent employed Village Managers key
Central to the strategy has been a shift from a contractor Village Manager to an employee Village Manager. Other key changes that have been implemented:
- Village chefs have taken on a second in command role and maintenance staff have been brought in-house to act as support staff.
- Village Managers can therefore look after the residents and the support staff look after the Village Manager
Kitchen Club Initiative
Another key initiative is the Kitchen Club – this is where their cooks and chefs have a platform to showcase meal ideas, menus and food presentation to raise the standards among each other. It has become a real talking point and a brilliant outcome for the residents.
They have also found it to be a real art to find kitchen staff who enjoy being around older people.
Home Care
With the average tenure at their villages is currently 3.3 years and average age is 78 to 80. Similar to Retirement Villages, they are finding if care isn’t offered, they are losing residents sooner to residential care options.
Following a recent survey 59% of their residents are on care plans and it is definitely an area for them moving forward.
More rental villages is the future
With expansion plans in the immediate future, so are plans of re-designing the product – whilst still keeping building costs low. Their current project in Wynnum, Brisbanefeatured in the picture above, has been designed with higher ceilings to 2.6m, natural lighting and full size kitchen and appliances.
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