The role of the state in encouraging the supply of senior housing: Housing-with-care and retirement villages in Scotland and New Zealand

Abstract

The inexorable increase in the demand for senior housing across all countries is well recognised with attention focusing on supply side responses. Adopting a welfare perspective, this paper considers whether leaving the supply of housing-with-care to the market alone will achieve optimal societal outcomes or lead to the under provision of senior housing. The level of state intervention in senior housing markets is considered employing a comparative approach of the experience in Scotland and New Zealand. State interventions were analysed in the areas of planning, property law and social care integration. The evidence would suggest that the market in New Zealand is more regulated than is the case in Scotland, thus enabling developers and investors to operate and invest with greater confidence, resulting in higher levels of supply. Given the current shortfall in appropriate age-related accommodation in Scotland this leads to the conclusion that the Scottish government needs to intervene more proactively in the market to stimulate and direct construction activity if a senior housing crisis is to be avoided.