Families find retirement homes a safe haven

Families find retirement homes a safe haven

TNN | Oct 20, 2020, 04.20 AM IST

Chennai: Four months ago, in the middle of lockdown, as Covid-19 cases were peaking in the city, music composer Babu Shankar, 57, decided to pack up his Alwarpet home and move with his family to a retirement community near Mamallapuram. “We are waiting out the pandemic here,” says Babu, who stays in the model apartment he has taken on lease at Ziva, a retirement home.

Babu’s daughter Manasa, the youngest resident, loves it in the ‘bubble’, with gardens to walk in, badminton courts and a swimming pool. “I love playing badminton with the thathas here. It’s easier on my parents because the sanitation protocol is maintained and meals taken care of. I just miss my pizzas,” says the medical college student.

Though the community is open only to those aged 50 and above, Viraj Chatterjee, who is in his 40s, managed an early entry on account of being stuck in the city during lockdown. The Hong Kong-based landscape designer was in Chennai working on projects when India went into lockdown. As Ziva was one of the projects he was working on, he struck a deal with them to work out of there. “I’ve created a home office and use it as my base in India. I find working out of a retirement community is convenient both in terms of space, peace and and safety,” says Viraj.

According to Mohit Nirula, CEO of Columbia Pacific Communities, which also focuses on senior living spaces, organic traffic to their website has quadrupled since March, when the lockdown was announced. “During lockdown, People even risked the pandemic and moved in here because of the controlled environment of the living space,” says Nirula, adding there is a waiting list of people who want to buy or rent properties inside communities.

“After the unlock was announced, we have had 25 families moving in. The pandemic seems to have hastened the decision to move in,” says P Suresh, managing director of Arun Excello, which created Ziva.

Reports from Anarock Property Consultant predict that amid the Covid-19 danger, more Indian seniors will seek out retirement homes and assisted living facilities and that the pandemic may reshape the senior living segment in the country. Region-wise, the report says, southern cities have a nearly 70% share of these projects.

“A recurring theme of this pandemic has been seniors living alone, struggling for basics, managing without help and anxious about existing and potential medical issues. There is a need for homes in a setting where these factors are taken care of,” says Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock.