Some initial conclusions as we head home........to be further refined

·      There is no magic bullet. Social housing/housing for poorer, older people needs to be subsidised one way or another by government

·      The “Golden Age” of support for social housing in the UK and Europe is coming to an end

·      Well-planned communities and well-planned housing units maintain options for older people so they can continue to exercise choice

·      Our organisations need to promote mindset change – younger, older people need to plan and act earlier rather than later about their housing choices to maintain their options

·      We can provide much more comprehensive advisory services and practical support to family homes and retirement village units to help people maintain their options for longer

·      We need to press for changes to building and constructions regulations to facilitate cheaper building approaches

·      Assisted living and sheltered housing are better options than low care – providing housing as the primary service and care/support as the back-up service

·      An argument can be made for large scale, “full service” retirement communities – in relation to this we need to make sure we are respecting what customers want and not what we want

·      Where providers co-exist (eg Menora), much greater effort needs to be devoted to offering collectively the fullest range of services possible

·      Stepping outside the system and doing it your way may be the only way to provide people with what they want in the over-regulated Australian setting

·      If we want change/truly believe in what we’re doing, we need to be prepared to disobey and just do it