Winter Wonders: Introduction to Integrated Retirement Communities

Integrated Retirement Communities, or 'IRCs' are becoming more prevalent in the UK with a number of providers offering these service-led communities as alternative living for older people. IRCs are also described using other names such as retirement village, assisted living, or extra care. These types of communities offer self-contained homes for sale, shared-ownership or rent.

What is/isn't an IRC?

The myriad options for specialist housing available for seniors can be mystifying, not helped by the vast array of sometimes interchangeable and other times conflicting vocabulary that exists. What an IRC is not is: 

• a care home

• age restricted housing (also known as sheltered housing or retirement flats), typically with a part time warden and emergency call system but no meals provided and limited communal facilities. There is a place for such housing in a strong and varied seniors sector. 

An IRC has all the advantages of allowing older people to own or rent their own home whilst benefitting from 24-hour onsite staff, extensive facilities, and life in a community of like minded people of a similar age. Many IRCs feel and look similar to a high-end hotel but there are also some great midmarket offers out there with just as strong a focus on wellbeing and lifestyle. A typical IRC will feature extensive facilities, ranging from leisure clubs, libraries, restaurants and bars to on-site hairdressers and a packed social event programme. It is a lifestyle product as much as it is a housing one. We would expect to see anything between 60 to 250 homes comprising 1 or 2 bed flats or individual houses. 

Integrated how?

The term "integration" in the context of IRCs refers to three areas: 

• Integrated lifestyle offering 
• Integrated well-being and care 
• Integration with wider communities

Typically, care provision for older people has been directly presented in the care home setting. An IRC offers an alternative option with care and / or support as part of a holistic wellbeing concept. This extends far beyond care/support provision to other key areas including active living, socialisation and participation in the community. In an IRC this is, of course, all optional, with residents choosing how much of anything they wish to take up. This blend of independent living, assisted living and care/support within a person's own home differs hugely from the traditional, more 'institutional' types of care/support, which seems to suit the increasing number of older adults within the UK who have only recently begun to think about options for older people's housing and whose perception is that the only option for them is a care home.  

This means that younger residents looking to purchase a home in an IRC have the comfort of knowing that they can remain in their home as they age, with the necessary facilities and support already in place to allow them to do so. This is a crucial distinction for an IRC – the key attraction being the amenities and services available for those wanting a more active lifestyle, but with a more subtle (albeit no less comprehensive) care/support offering as part of the package. We will delve further into the topic of care later in the series.

Many IRCs also integrate with their local communities by providing facilities which are open to the public, such as coffee shops and restaurants or providing gym memberships to local residents.

What about the cost?

Older people choosing an IRC for their later years are now looking for a model which supports an 'enjoy now, pay later' outlook. Due to this generation's views on home ownership and their own net worth, which is usually primarily tied up in the value of their home, older people are looking for ways to enjoy their later years whilst preserving value in their homes for their families. IRCs typically operate by allowing residents to purchase their own home, paying a lower-level service charge for the available facilities (including, in many cases, gardening and maintenance of the structure of their homes). This effectively allows the resident to 'forward fund' their later years without reducing their available capital.  The IRC then takes a deferred fee (tied into the value of the property and how long the resident has owned their home) once the property is sold on. We will be doing some myth-busting as the series progresses, to counter some of the negative attention that such fee structures and preservation of sales values have received in the press. For those who don't want to tie up their capital in a new retirement property, there is an expanding rental market...stay tuned for more on that.