Care a small ‘c’
Sometimes it takes for someone else to make a statement and you think “well that just nailed it”
Gillian Sloan and I were part of a couple of different panel discussions during the Urban Living Festival, recently hosted at Canary Wharf in London.
After the nerves settled and once, I had finished my discussion, I was able to sit back get a coffee and fully enjoy the conversation between Gillian, Peter Youngs of Knight Frank, Honor Barratt of Birchgrove, hosted by the brilliant Leo Colgan of IMS.
The topic of conversation was “The senior living revolution”
This was such a superb conference to be part of, as we were able to fully articulate our plans for Loopliv and where we see our vision, sitting within the rental arena, and more importantly to have some industry expert affirmation of our model.
There was a key part in the conversation for me when Peter Youngs said, “I think I really need to give this some real context, let’s be clear, we are not talking about, retirement living, assisted living or complex care, what we are talking about is care with a small c”
Thank you Peter for this amazing quote!
Immediately I could have jumped off my seat, that’s it! That explains what we are looking to achieve for the 55yr plus rental choice, it’s giving people in this forgotten group, purpose, community, fun, friendships, sense of belonging and value, its care with a small “c”
Why does this nail it?
Simply because this is an early provision to enhance the way people, live their lives, to provide tangible longer health improvements through making sure they are still relevant, are not suffering from loneliness, are remaining engaged and active both physically and mentally.
So why do we believe we need to provide rental opportunities for the 55yrs + and why is it so vital not only now but for the future?
We naturally form own communities at school, university and at work, then comes the race to pay off the mortgage and look forward to retiring. Along the way, we lose touch with these communities, dwindling connections and distance between family and friends. Generations past and present are doing just that. At a time when they should be enjoying their well-earned money, they are more concerned about saving, being frugal and keeping their health by being safe.
I have friends who have, either split from partners, or friends and family have moved away for one reason or another, they spent all their time working and creating and being part of an active social life, which has gone by the wayside, but funny how they say "I can't wait until I stop working, there is so much I want to do"...now here is the question, will they? And why can’t you do it now?
I am happy to say things are changing, people are realising it is not the vision of life they had.
People need people, they need friendships, groups, social, travel, laughter, and not to feel alone.
Students love the time they have, sharing a community, we are now seeing renting for young professionals soaring, with cities like Manchester, truly taking the lead with BTR and Co living.
Loneliness being tackled, mental health becoming a discussion point and no longer something everyone pretends they never suffer from.
So, it is now time to think about the living expectations of those in their 50s and above.
Is this the lost community? To tackle this group and make some truly genuine inroads to ways of living, opportunities, friendships, and communities, will have a significant impact on health, wellbeing, and mental health, in turn the positive effect to the NHS is huge.
This group (like any other) crave company, but on their terms, not some forced social event, or expectation of what they will like, due to age...
One of the most interesting aspects of the period we all experienced during Covid, was the self-belief people found, hobbies became businesses and people found their creativity and more importantly rediscovered what was missing for them. More small businesses were set up in the 50 plus age group than any other! This is exciting, this is a group of people who have much to give and much to celebrate.
People discovered they could in several cases work remotely, but a defining moment was the realisation that we all need interaction, we need people.
We were forced into this reality for a period, where we were on our own, I count my blessings every day that I can now see that as a past, but for many this is their present.
At Loopliv we want to make sure this is not their future.
This is indeed care with a small “c”