2021 Discovery Grant awarded to UNSW Ageing Futures Institute Member

UNSW Ageing Futures Institute Member Emeritus Professor Bruce Judd, of the City Futures Research Centre (CFRC) in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture is a Chief Investigator (CI) on a recently awarded three-year ARC Discovery Grant of $291,012. 

The grant entitled ‘The financialisation of older persons residential parks and rental villages’ is led by fellow CFRC colleague Prof Hal Pawson, also includes Prof Kath Hulse from the Centre for Urban Transitions at Swinburne University of Technology as a CI, and Senior Research Fellow Dr Chris Martin of CFRC as a specialist contributor on legal and economic aspects.

The project aims to explore and explain contemporary change in the residential parks and communities (PC) and rental villages (RV) sectors. In addition, this project will advance policy implications for housing affordability, housing legal rights, financial services consumer protection, ageing support and care. 

Pitched to older persons as affordable alternatives to homeownership and to retirement villages, PCs and RVs are changing, with new large corporate proprietors introducing new business models and housing offers. This may be a welcome solution for a growing cohort of older women who have become homeless for the first time due to any number of crises including mental health issues, domestic violence, unemployment, a spouse or partner dying and lack of family support. 

 “This collaborative effort will not only provide improved alternative housing options specifically for ageing Australians but it will also influence future policy makers and implement law reforms that targets retirement villages.” Commented Institute Director, Professor Kaarin Anstey.

Financialisation perspectives offer new critical insights into the sectors, including their relations to wider housing and economic dynamics, the strategies and operations of sector organisations, and the everyday lives of residents.