More retirement communities than ever before are acknowledging the health benefits of companion animals and encouraging residents to own pets, a new report has found.
The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute today published a report which looks at regulation and policies in relation to pets and housing.
The report finds that retirement villages in the past were likely to have a ‘no pets allowed’ policy….but that this is changing.
“Retirement villages are increasingly recognising and acknowledging the importance of pets for overall health, for ameliorating loneliness and progressively now even as a determinant as to whether an older person buys into a village or not,” the report finds.
“‘Older villages are likely to have a no pets policy, but modern new retirement villages generally are accepting of pets, and some are even facilitating pets in the village by helping residents build cat runs or providing dog parks and play equipment.”
The report finds that State and Territory laws covering land lease communities and retirement villages tended to delegate pet decisions to individual community operators.
“These policies are often devised generally in consultation with the residents’ committees at each particular site and in line with the guidelines of village contracts,” the report finds.
Downsizing.com.au allows residents to easily search for pet-friendly retirement communities.
Simply:
- Go to downsizing.com.au
- Enter your preferred suburb or region - you’ll see all our listings in this area come up
- Click on the filter option and then, under Property Features, click on “Pets Allowed” and then click update
- You’ll then see all the listings in your preferred region which allow pets
