Retirement village exit confirmed
Elderly residents at two churchrun retirement villages slated for closure will be reimbursed for the full value of their units, should they choose to leave, it has been confirmed.
Anglican Care, the social services arm of the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch, announced in August it planned to exit the aged residential care sector, and wind down its Bishopspark and Fitzgerald retirement villages.
It is still seeking a buyer or buyers to take on the villages as going-concerns, but said last month no new residents would be admitted. A representative said at the time it was likely the complexes would be wound down over a number of years, as existing residents relinquished their occupational right agreement (ORA).
The move drew the ire of relatives. ‘‘You’ve got a whole lot of elderly people who are now facing the choice of do you stay in a village that’s being run into the ground, or do you move somewhere else and you don’t have the capital to do it,’’ one woman said.
On Friday, Anglican Care Trust Board chair Moka Ritchie said Anglican Care had offered to refund residents the full entry price of their ORA when it was relinquished, without any typical deductions. Residents would not be asked to leave, or have to leave unless they wanted to, she said.
There were 32 residents with ORAs at Fitzgerald, and 41 at Bishopspark, Anglican Care said last month.
Ritchie said the organisation had also offered to contribute funds towards legal and relocation costs incurred by residents choosing to move to another village, and refund anything paid to the organisation for chattels or other improvements.
However, requests for Anglican Care to help finance residents into new retirement villages would not be possible, Ritchie said.
‘‘We received the request and said this would be considered. We have since advised that the cost is too high to consider at a time when we are still exploring the sale of the complexes.’’
A charities return for Anglican Care, which was registered as the Social Service Council of the Diocese of Christchurch, showed in the year to June 2017 the division that operates the villages ran a deficit of $99,000. The entity as a whole had net assets of about $65 million.
On Friday, she acknowledged how ‘‘unwelcome and unsettling’’ the changes were for residents and staff.
She said the trust board was ‘‘anxious to do what we can’’ to provide support, including making people available on a regular basis to answer questions and take feedback.