ST : Now to grow old in some (optional) style

Apr 7, 2010

Now to grow old in some (optional) style

THE notion of retirement living in Singapore is shaped to an extent by the Government's active promoting of community sharing and family togetherness. Thus are custom-fitted studio apartment blocks for elderly people located in a town's commercial hub, for ease of daily living. In support of the family, the offer of grant incentives has been a powerful lure to have grown children live close to their aged parents in HDB estates. It is meant to solidify relationships. Working couples check in on their elders, the elderly folk help with the child-minding where they can - a neat fit all round. On the periphery are modest retirement homes that cater to the elderly sick and the very old, usually without family. Not being commercial- scale operations, these homes have remained a niche service through the years, although they are greatly appreciated by the community.

But with the first cohorts among post-war baby boomers about to ease off on a life of striving, the coming wave of retirees will want a choice of retirement accommodation. Many will have ample disposable income. They should be permitted that choice, within the limits of sensible public policy. The trend, explored by our reporter Radha Basu in The Sunday Times this week, will gain momentum as so-called active-ageing retirees with varied interests and the means with which to indulge them begin to influence business investments catering to their demographic segment. Even government policy could hardly stay constant, for example on discretionary land use for the building of retirement villages.

This business possibility received a renewed airing at the Ageing Asia business forum this week. Well-appointed retirement villages offering every imaginable service - nursing and rehabilitative care, recreation and excursions, libraries, optional catering - will be land-intensive. This fact alone will militate against the concept gaining wide application. A government offer of a piece of land in Upper Bukit Timah for such a construction was in fact not taken up. A developer thought the short lease of 30 years did not make for a viable business. That trial phase can be considered over. As demand for more gracious retirement living can be expected to grow in the coming decades, new thinking should emerge. Developers, insurance and health-care companies could offer ideas to the Government on land use that would be pitched at meeting a social need and not necessarily be regarded as wasteful. These villages will, however, be a small part of retirement management. It is as well to remember that. It would be unpleasant to have the elitist label flung at village people who just wish to live well, but this is a probability to consider.